Katawa Shoujo Forums

Introduction

It's been a long time since I first found Katawa Shoujo and this forum. I come back every so often to read some of the new posts, but I've never posted anything. It's also been several years since I've last written anything.

Despite all of that, I recently felt the urge to start writing again and this has been the result.

While I was trying to decide what to write, I realized that I didn't really want to meddle with any of the existing characters' stories. That would simply turn it into a competition over whether mine or the original was the better story. Yamaku: The Next Generation gave me the idea of introducing my own characters to the story, which led me to adding more characters that I felt would fit into school life at Yamaku. A teacher here, a classmate there, and soon I had an entire cast for my story.

Finding My Place tells the story of a second student that arrives at Yamaku alongside Hisao. This means that it shares a very similar start to Hisao's own story, but I think it becomes it's own thing quickly enough. As well as being inspired by the original story, there are also moments taken from other fan projects to act as background to my own as well as to simply acknowledge their works.

The rename has been done to fit the story that I’ve now finished telling a bit better than the one I originally gave it. I've also gone back and edited many of the errors that built up as I published each chapter. I’m sure there will be a few more to find, so feel free to point them out if you want to.

There isn’t any need to reread it though, as there have been no major changes from what was previously posted. It should be a more pleasant read if anyone that’s been following along chooses to go back to the beginning.

Thank you to everyone who's been with me on this journey and to anyone who is still going to give it a read.

---

Table of Contents

Prologue (This Post)

Act 1

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7

Act 2

Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14

Act 3

Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21

Act 4

Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28

Epilogue

---

Frozen

I stare blankly at the man sitting opposite me. His lips are moving, but no sound reaches me. The whole room is silent as I process what has just been said.

I’m glad my parents are here to take notice of what he says because I’m in my own world.

How can this be?

I’m normal.

This can’t be true.

“Hatsumi?”

“Hatsumi?”

I’m suddenly brought back into the room as the doctor repeatedly calls my name. “Do you understand what I just said?”

“I have epilepsy,” I respond quietly.

Everything around me seems dull. As if all the life has been sucked out of the world.

“Yes,” he continues. “Although it’s not what you’d usually picture when you’d think of epilepsy, that is till what it is. There aren’t any visible seizures, but non-motor epilepsy can still present some risks. It may seem like you’re just lost in thought, but you are in fact in the middle of a seizure. Depending on where and when this happens you can end up in serious danger as you know.”

All of this started when I suddenly stopped dead in the middle of the road coming home from school. A car nearly hit me. We were all used to me spacing out, but my parents decided that we needed to check if there was something wrong with me after that.

Turns out there was.

“While I wouldn’t normally suggest going this far. The frequency of your seizures and the possibility of further developments means that it would be best for you to spend some time in a safer, more controlled environment than you are used to.”

“What do you mean? You want me to stay in a hospital? For how long?” I ask.

“No. A hospital wouldn’t be my recommendation. There’s a school that helps people deal with conditions like yours. They help you to adjust to a new lifestyle.”

“You want to send me to a new school? A school for the disabled? I’m not disabled!”

The room is closing in all around me. I need to get out of the tiny, lifeless room. I need to get some air.

The doctor is still talking. Trying to explain himself, but I'm not listening. I jump to my feet and, pushing past my parents, rush out the door. I don’t look back as I hurry down the white corridors past other offices full of doctors delivering news to their own patients. I turn the corner and make for the stairs where I almost trip in my hurry.

But there's the door.

It slides open for me, and I'm free from that claustrophobic building.

I look back and see that nobody has followed me. I suppose that my condition isn’t that serious. As long as I don’t run out into the road, it doesn’t matter if I suddenly grind to a halt for a few seconds.

Looking around I realize that everything is still just as grey and lifeless as it had been in that tiny office. It wasn’t just the hospital that seemed so miserable. Everything has lost its colour. I decide to sit on one of the benches and wait it out. Maybe something will change if I calm down a bit.

It doesn’t.

Time stretches out and everything stays grey. I feel tears welling up at the thought of this being my new life, I don’t try to stop it.

I put my head in hands and cry.

---

At some point, dad finds me. He doesn’t say anything which I was grateful for. He just sits down next to me and hugs me.

I don’t know how long we sit there, but I start to calm down. I start to hear the cars driving past us and the world begins to get a bit brighter. It isn’t what it used to be, but it's better than that silent, grey nightmare.

Eventually he lets go of me. I don’t want him to, but he stands up and looks down at me.

“Let’s go home,” he says. “We don’t have to talk about it. Is there anything that you want on the way?”

“Can we get some ice cream?” I say as I look up at him. I almost start crying again, but the love I see on his face helps to push it away.

“Of course we can. Mom’s already at the car, so let’s not keep her waiting any longer,” he says with a small smile.

We walk around to the parking lot, and I see that she’s behind the steering wheel.

Normally dad drives, but I guess that he wants to comfort me.

It makes sense as we’ve always been closer.

He opens the back door for me and helps me in. Mom says nothing through all of it. I guess they talked about giving me time to process things.

Dad goes around the car and gets in the back next to me.

“Aren’t you going to sit in the front?” I ask.

“Do you want me to?” He replies.

“No,” I respond.

He leaves it at that before leaning forward to say something to mom. She nods before starting the car and pulling out of the bay.

Dad looks over at me and puts a hand on my shoulder. He pulls me towards him, and I don’t resist as I lie down with my head in his lap. It's warm and comforting, and I think about how we used to do this when I was younger. Maybe that’s his plan. Get me to think about happier times.

We drive along in silence. The movement of the cars is calming, as if it’s trying to rock me to sleep. Maybe it succeeds as the next thing I know we’re pulling up to my favourite ice cream shop.

It could have been another seizure, but I don’t think that’s the case.

It’s been too long.

I sit up and look out the window. The shop isn’t too busy so we shouldn’t have to wait long.

“Do you want to come in or wait here?” Dad asks.

“I’ll wait.” I say quietly.

“Would you like the usual?” he asks, and I nod.

He gets out of the car and heads inside while I sit in silence with mom. I look up and see her eyes in the rearview mirror. I think she was crying too, but she tries to smile even though I can see she’s struggling to.

It might be wrong of me, but I’m relieved to see that I’m not the only one who’s hurting. Mom has never been good at showing her emotions, but I know she loves me and that seeing me like this must be terrible for her.

I can see that I’m not alone in hurting.

What the doctor said suddenly comes rushing back and I burst into tears.

If they do send me away, I will be alone.

Mom jumps out of her seat and hurries to get into the back with me. She hugs me tight, and I return the hug. I sob into her shoulder as the weight of what might happen comes down on me.

“Don’t send me away.” I manage to say between sobs. “I don’t want to be alone. I don’t want to be different.”

She says nothing as I cry my heart out. I’m not looking for her to say anything either. When dad gets back, he sees what's happened and gets in the front. The ice cream is left on the seat next to him as he drives us home.

---

When we get home, they help me out of the car, into the house, and up to my room. Mom leaves and dad helps me into bed.

“Try to get some rest,” he says. “We’ll be downstairs. If you feel ready to talk about it, come down at some point. We’ll wait for you. Is there anything you want?”

“Could you call Ritsuko? I’d like her to come over.”

“I’ll do that,” he says as he leaves, closing the door behind him.

Ritsuko has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. We’ve been there for each other whenever we needed someone to talk to. If she’s at home, it won’t be long before she gets here. Maybe she’ll be able to help me through this.

---

There’s a soft knocking at the door and a moment’s pause before it slowly opens to reveal Ritsuko. She’s wearing tracksuit pants and a loose-fitting top. Must have been in a hurry.

She comes over to me and I shift over to make space for her.

After sliding into bed alongside me, she lays still for a moment. “They said it’s not good news, but they didn’t tell me what happened... Do you want to talk about it?”

Did I want to talk about it?

Not really.

There was a long silence.

I should probably talk about it. They always say that it helps.

“It’s a type of epilepsy,” I begin. “It doesn’t look like it, but that’s what it is. I’m having a seizure whenever I go still.”

Ritsuko shifts closer to me and puts her arm around me.

“It wouldn’t be that dangerous if I knew when it was about to happen, but I can’t tell," I say. "It could get worse.”

“I’m sorry,” Ritsuko whispers. “But we’re here for you. I’m here for you.”

“That’s the problem. The doctor wants to send me away. Somewhere that knows how to deal with things like this.”

Ritsuko had been stroking my hair, but now she goes stiff.

“Why would they do that?”

There’s anger in her voice.

“You need your friends and family now more than ever. What would sending you to some institute do to help?”

“It’s a school for kids with disabilities. They know how to deal with people like me. It sort of makes sense, doesn’t it?”

“What do you mean? Do you want to go there?”

“No, I don’t. I want to stay here where everything is normal, but who’s going to watch me all the time. You have to think about yourself. It’s our final year in school and I can’t be the one to distract you from that. My parents can’t do it either. They need to work.”

I’ve got all these reasons as to why this makes sense, but I don’t believe in any of them. I just want to give up, and going along with this might make that easier. I never wanted to stand out, be different, and now I was. Not even for a good reason. It was because there was something wrong with me.

I laugh dryly. “Something finally made me stand out and I couldn’t even get it right. My epilepsy doesn’t even come with the seizures.”

“Don’t talk like that,” Ritsuko says, hugging me tightly now. “You can’t just give up. I know you’re strong. Stronger than me. You could make it through this on your own if you had to, but you don’t need to. We’re all here for you.”

I listen to what she has to say, and I ignore it. “I think I’ll try to get some sleep now,” I say, before going silent.

Talking didn’t help.

“I’ll stay with you,” Ritsuko says, but I don’t really hear her. I’m in my own world now thinking about how wrong everything has gone.

She stays with me until I drift off to sleep.

---

I wake up in an empty bed. Ritsuko must have left at some point.

Although I still feel hollow, a lot of the emotions from before are gone. Maybe I’ll be able to handle things properly now. I get up and go over to the curtains.

It's dark outside and I’m hungry.

I suppose that’s a good reaction. I head out of my room and down the stairs, where I see my parents sitting in the living room. They aren’t looking my way, so I don’t disturb them.

In the kitchen I find a Hamburg steak. Mom must have made it. It’s long gone cold now, but I put it in the microwave which begins to hum.

They must know I’m awake now, but they leave me to eat dinner at my own pace. Its tastes good. Not as good as usual, but good enough.

Once I’m done, I head into the sitting room and sit down. Once it’s clear that I’m not going to start things, Dad speaks up.

“Ritsuko told us what you said. That you’d go Yamaku.”

That must have been the name of the place the doctor talked about.

“She didn’t think it was a good idea,” I say.

“She made that very clear to us as well,” Mom adds.

“I know it sounds bad, but the place is really good at what they do,” Dad continues. “You’ll get the care you need, and still be able to graduate this year.”

“That’s something at least.” I mutter.

My parents can see that I’m not really happy with the idea and they begin to lay out all of the details. They even have some brochures to show me what the place looks like.

Even I have to admit that it looks like a great place.

By the time they had finished selling the concept to me, even I had to admit that they might be right.

“Fine. I’ll go,” was all I said before going back to my room to think about what I’m going to say to Ritsuko and everyone else from school.

---

The next week is a whirlwind of action and emotion. We decided to get me started at Yamaku Academy as soon as possible, so there are lots of things to pack and lots of people to say goodbye to.

They all tried to convince me to stay, but eventually realized that I'd made up my mind and that they were just making a hard choice harder.

I would miss them, Ritsuko especially, but hopefully we'd see each other during our vacations.

The week flies by and suddenly it was time to go. Bags are packed. The car is full, and I'm looking around at my room. We had boxed up everything I wasn’t taking with me, and the room was now unrecognizable. I wouldn’t be gone forever, but, standing here now, it sure felt as if I would.

I go downstairs and out the front door, locking it behind me.

Mom and dad are already in the car, and I quickly join them. While I can’t say that I'm happy to be going, I think I might be ready to face it.

---

Next Chapter >

First Serve

The brochures didn’t do the place justice. It's if I'm standing before the gates of some grand estate.

It looks far too high class, and seems as if it would be impossible to fit in even without a disability.

Black iron gates, a towering red brick wall. It's a great vacation destination, but not a boarding school. We're not trying to live in Victorian England.

I guess it makes sense for a place that's supposed to protect us. Keep the dangers out, and keep us in.

I head through the gates before I can dwell on it any longer, and it feels good to get away from that gate and those thoughts.

Maybe that's the key?

Keep moving forward, don’t get caught up in any of it.

It's obvious were I need to go. The grand stairs leading up to the huge oak door clearly point to where the main entrance is. Mom and dad had dropped me off before taking my bags to the dorms. I just need to meet someone to take me to my homeroom class.

I’ve never seen such perfectly cut grass alongside trees that are just as well maintained.

A school would never normally do this.

I guess it’s meant to help with the mood, but I don’t think it’s right.

A setting like this is for holiday destinations, not a school.

Those thoughts are coming back, and I push them away again. I need to try keep it together.

I can make this work.

There are other buildings in the distance. I recognise some of them, but can’t remember which is which.

It all fits together perfectly, but the picture isn’t quite right. A school shouldn’t be like this.

I try my best to push these thoughts away, but they keep coming back.

This isn’t a school. I shouldn’t be here.

Maybe I’m the one that doesn’t fit. I know my condition is real, but I don’t feel like it’s there. No one else can see my seizures and I don’t notice most of them.

It makes me feel like I don’t belong here.

Ahead of me I see someone else walking through the main doors. He must be a student as well because he’s wearing a uniform like mine. I don’t see anything wrong with him though.

He must be like me then.

I think about calling out to him, but I decide not to. I don’t want to call attention to myself even if it means facing this alone.

There's a rustling of wind in the trees, and I think about staying here to take it in.

I feel as if it's all meant to bring me peace, but it doesn’t. I’m anxious.

I keep moving forward as I have someone to meet, and I don’t want to dwell on things.

I pause in the doorway and take a breath. What's waiting for me through those doors? Once I’m inside I can’t turn back. They’ll have me.

Its stupid to think that. Everything has already been finalized, but couldn’t I still run away?

No, I can’t.

With that thought, I step into the building.

I see the student from before. He’s talking to someone who must be a teacher. The man looks over at me.

He’s tall, but his posture is terrible, and it looks like he doesn’t get much sleep. He’s clearly not here for me as he turns his attention back to the boy.

I’m not really listening to what they say as I look around wondering where my guide is, although I do catch some of what he says.

The teacher couldn’t get his name right. The boy, Nakai, had to correct him. Ouch.

The nurse comes up. I have an appointment with him later. It's nothing serious. I think he just wants to get familiar with my case.

As the two of them leave, I see another man walking towards me. He’s the exact opposite of the first teacher. Short, stocky, perfect posture. He doesn’t even have a single hair out of place.

His gaze is fixed on me, and I’m not sure how to feel about it. He’s not smiling, but he doesn’t look angry either. There’s a light in his eyes, though I can’t really tell what emotion is behind it.

“Good morning, Hatsumi Nakano,” He calls out as he closes in briskly. “I’m Hajime Kubo. Your Homeroom and Maths teacher.”

He’s definitely here for me then. His tone is much easier to interpret than his expression. He’s happy to see me. I can almost feel my mood lift from just the warmth behind that simple greeting.

As he reaches me, his hand comes out to shake mine. It’s not something I entirely expected, but I do the same. His handshake is firm.

I’m glad he’s not one of those people who tries to crush your hand just to prove something.

“I’m sorry that I was late. I just wanted to make sure the class was in order before leaving them alone. You never know what unsupervised students could get up to.”

Once again, it’s his voice that signals the joke he’s making. There seems to be a total disconnect between it and his facial features.

Without pausing for me to say anything he moves on with his speech. “We should get you to class ASAP. Everyone will be waiting to meet you.”

My smile falters. They're waiting for me? Why? I don’t want to be the centre of attention. I'd rather slip into things unnoticed.

Kubo must notice this as he's quick to try and reassure me. “It’s nothing big. We just need to introduce you to the class so they know what to call you.”

After a brief pause, he continues, “We can skip the introduction if you really want to.”

“No. I guess I should introduce myself,” I reply

I admit to myself that what I want makes no sense. I need to introduce myself at some point, so why not do it straight away?

It might even stop people from staring at me as they try to figure out how I’m meant to fit in.

“Good. Let’s get going then.” Kubo says as he spins around and sets off down the corridor at speed. I wonder if he’s always like this.

“I’m sure you’ll find them very welcoming," he continues. "We try to be like family. A big, messy, family with absolutely nothing in common.”

This statement is followed up by something that is almost a bark. It shocks me.

Is that him laughing?

I guess that it must be. It sounds like he was making a joke. I can’t see his face now that I'm trailing behind him, but I doubt it would help if I could.

We make our way down the corridors and up a flight of stairs. Kubo keeps up the rapid pace. I’m glad to be as fit as I am because it doesn’t appear as if he would slow down if I fell behind.

Is he always in this much of a hurry?

As we reach the end of the third-floor corridor, we stop at a door marked 3-4. Kubo throws it open so hard that it smashes against the wall.

In place of the load crash that I expect is a dull thud. It sounds like precautions have been taken for this exact scenario.

“I’m back!” He calls out. It’s almost a shout.

Does he get louder as his audience grows?

“I hope everything’s still where it should be,” he continues.

I pause at the door to take a deep breath. The imminent introduction takes away more of my breath than the rushed journey here. Two more breaths to calm my nerves and I step through the doorway.

I look around at the classroom, not entirely sure what I was expecting to see.

It’s a nice room. High ceilings, large desks, and plenty of space between them.

Is this by design or are there less students than there could be?

How in demand is a school for disabled kids?

I slowly take in everything before me. The front wall is filled by blackboards. They’re cleaner than any I’ve seen before. Another wall has huge windows looking out into the schoolgrounds, completely negating the need for artificial lighting.

The desks are less impressive for some reason. Just your standard school desks. Each one has its own equally standard chair. They are large, but that’s all that special about them.

One doesn’t have a chair. Behind it sits a girl in a wheelchair. That makes sense. I take another look at the room. This time focusing on the students.

Some of their problems are easy to work out. Others are not so obvious.

I suppose they’re like me. A normal looking girl from the outside until something goes wrong and the truth comes out.

Two girls jump out at me. One is small with blonde twin tails with both her legs missing. They've been replaced by fake metal legs. A bit further back, a girl with no arms staring out the window.

They startle me.

Kubo has been speaking through all of this. Probably introducing me. It helps to hide the fact that I’ve been staring at everyone.

They’re all looking at him.

I suppose you can’t help it when someone’s that loud. It’s a relief to not have them staring at me.

I then realize that I’m not entirely correct. One boy doing just that from the back corner. He’s quite tall. Sitting bolt upright. Straight, black hair, and dark eyes. He almost looks like Kubo with how neat he seems to be.

He stares straight back at me, and I don’t think its out of curiosity. I begin to blush with embarrassment.

Is that what it feels like?

I suddenly feel bad about my own staring as I was trying to figure out what was wrong with everyone.

Is he trying to make a point?

I’m sort of grateful for that boy doing what he's doing, if that is what's happening.

I try to stop my gaze from wondering any more. Maybe they all know what it feels like to be gawked at and are trying to spare me that feeling.

That seems to be the case with some of them. Others just look bored. I suppose I would be to. I’m just another student. Nothing special to them.
There’s one empty desk in the middle of the room, which I guess is going to be for me.

“So, I hope you’ll all do your best to make her feel welcome.” Kubo finishes his little speech and motions for me to step forward.

Now everyone is looking at me.

“Hi…” I begin. My voice cracks. “I’m Hatsumi Nakano. I’m happy to be here.”

Why did I say that? I’m not. Why would anyone be happy transferring here in the middle of the year. That would only happen if something just went very wrong.

I think they all know that too, but some of them smile back at me as if to reassure me that they understand why I said it.

I look for something else to say. “I like reading and going for walks. I also play a bit of tennis. I hope we can all get along quickly to make up for my late arrival.”

I go silent.

After a few moments, Kubo takes over. “There you go. Hatsumi, your seat’s the empty one in the middle. Let’s get on with the lesson.”

He really can be quite abrupt.

A few students are looking at me after my lackluster introduction. Some of them even begin to whisper to each other as I make my way to my new desk.

The lesson is already underway by the time I sit down. Something to do with quadratic equations. He really doesn’t like to waste time.

Some students are taking notes, others just listen. A few have already begun doing their own thing.

---

Halfway through the lesson, Kubo announces that he has some worksheets for us to do. “It’s quite long, so you can work together if you want to. No more than three in a group though.”

He looks directly at me. Am I supposed to work with someone? I’ve only been here for half an hour.

He looks over at the girl sitting to my right. “Cho, you can pair up with Hatsumi. Find someone else to help you as well.”

Kubo has apparently decided that I am indeed going to be working in a group. He also seems to know who the third member of our group is going to be as he looks at the girl to my left before heading over to his own desk.

There’s some scraping as the two girls on either side of me push their desks towards me. It looks like they’re going to trap me in. As if they think I’m going to try and escape.

“Emi, pass out the worksheets.” Kubo calls from his desk.

The girl with at the front without legs jumps to her… feet? She rushes forward at a pace that surprises me to collect the papers.

How can she move so fast?

By now I’m completely boxed in. I look to the girl sitting to my right as I at least know her name.

Cho.

She’s tall. Taller than me at least, and I’m slightly above average. She has long, wavy hair. The type you always see in hair product commercials.

I’m slightly jealous. Her skin is just as impressive. Pale without any traces of blemishes.

“Good morning,” she says in a soft voice. “It’s nice to meet you so soon. I’m Cho and that’s Nanami,” she continues as she nods her head to the girl on my left.

I turn towards her.

“Hi,” she says in a loud and surprisingly high-pitched voice. Kubo and a few other students look up at us sharply and Nanami looks apologetic.

They quickly go back to what they were doing.

Nanami is the complete opposite of Cho. She’s short and has curly brown hair. Her face has a slight tan and is covered in freckles.

It’s also clear why she’s here. While nothing looked out of place with Cho, Nanami was missing her left hand.

Where the wrist should have been, there was nothing. It apparently didn’t bother her either as she didn’t try to hide it.

“I hope we get on well together,” Cho continues. “If you ever need anything, let us know and we’d be happy to lend a hand.”

A huge smile spread across her face as she said that.

I'm shocked. How can she say that?

I quickly spin back to Nanami, and my shock turns to confusion. She's clearly trying her hardest not to burst out laughing.

“Good one,” she finally manages to wheeze between her stifled laughter. “But you can’t do that to people you’ve just met. Look at her. She might go into shock.”

Her tone is playful as she tries to act stern with Cho.

“I’m sorry about that.” Cho say in a more serious tone. “We love trying to get a joke in about each other whenever possible. It’s a tradition that we have.”

These two girls are crazy. Here I am worrying about offending anyone over their disabilities and the first thing they do is make a joke about one of theirs.

I look up at Kubo, but he’s already deep into his own work. Are these really the two he chose for me to get to know first? Talk about throwing me into the deep end.

“It’s nice to meet both of you too.” I say, not entirely sure which way to look.

“I know it’s got to be tough to transfer to a new school in the middle of the year, but with our help you’ll be settled down in no time.”

Nanami is apparently very confident in what the two of them can accomplish, even though I’m a bit hesitant about how much they can really do.
“We’d be letting Yamaku down if we left you to flounder,” Cho continues.

It seems that the two of them take turns in delivering what they have to say. There are almost no pauses between the end of one sentence and the start of another.

I thought that was something only twins could do?

“We saw some of your paperwork when Giichi brought it to Kubo,” Nanami says as she looks to the back of the classroom.

I followed her gaze and saw that she is looking at the boy who had returned my stare earlier.

He’s still sitting up as straight as was possible, but he’s deeply engrossed in the work he was doing.

No-one is working with him.

“You got here sooner that we thought you would,” Cho continues. “It usually takes a lot longer to get things going.

“Too much paperwork,” Nanami say in agreement.

I wondered if I'm ever going to be able to get a word in. It really is as if only one person has been talking this entire time. It looks like they're going to keep this back and forth going for a while.

“Giichi’s the class rep, but I think Kubo knows that you don’t really want to deal with him until he warms up to you.”

Cho apparently can tell that I’m wondering why I’ve been paired up with them.

“If he ever warms up to you.” Nanami follows up with.

I gulp at that statement. It must be tough having a class rep who’s so difficult to deal with. He must be good at his job if he got it despite his apparently prickly nature.

“Don’t worry about him," Cho says. "He’s just another aspect of the school to get used to. We do some things differently, but plenty of it is still the same.”

“Once you get used to it, it’ll seem like any other school,” Nanami continues.

“So, have you gotten familiar with the school grounds yet.” The sudden subject change comes from Cho. “We’ll show you around if you want.”

I'm not sure if I was quite ready to get dragged around the school by these two yet. They seem nice, but I don’t want to get caught in the middle of this peculiar duo.

Nanami also tones down her approach.

They both seem to have realized that I’m not really up for their playful approach.

“Sorry about all that,” she says.

I quickly try to interrupt her apology, but she carries on.

It’s as if she’s suddenly dropped a cheerful act that she had been putting on.

“I know how hard all of this can be. I transferred here halfway through my first year. I wanted to stick it out alone and I managed it for a while. It didn’t end too well. I really needed someone to lean on and that’s when I found Cho.”

This sudden moment of vulnerability moves me. Here was a girl I barely knew, and she's sharing something deeply personal.

“I just want you to know that we can be there for you. It doesn’t have to be us but know that we’ll be here.”

Cho doesn’t follow up with anything this time. She just smiles.

We sit in silence for a moment before the two of them begin working through the maths problems. I guess they’re giving me time to think about what they said.

I don’t show it, but it's definitely affected me.

I don’t really know why.

Maybe it’s because they’ve been through the same things I’m going through.

I can’t know that for sure, but they’re more likely to know what they’re talking about than everyone else over the past week. They aren’t looking at it from the outside.

I look up at our homeroom teacher to see that he’s looking at me as well. I still can’t read his face at all, but I think he’s happy with the result of his pairing.

Did he plan all of this or was it a lucky coincidence?

This duo, their oddities and differences, and the surprising openness have really done something to me.

“Which part should I work on.” I ask.

Cho slides two pages over. She split the work evenly between us.

It seems like she did leave the easiest part for me though.

I’m grateful for that. I’m good at maths, but it seems that they started this section last week and that has given them a head start on solving these problems.

With each of us working on our assigned parts, we're able to finish with some time to spare.

Nanami suggests that we swap pages and see if we can spot any mistakes in each other’s work. I end up handling both of theirs as we swap them around.

Even their handwritings are opposite.

Surprisingly, Cho is the one with messy handwriting.

I guess she isn’t perfect after all. It’s sort of a relief for that to be confirmed.

We’re nearly done when the bell rings.

Time for lunch.

“Here, you could probably look over these to help you catch up,” Both girls say together.

They drop the worksheets on my desk before they set about moving their desks back into place. Once they’re done and we’re all packed up, I stand there not entirely sure what to do next. Nanami motions for me to follow and, because I don’t really know what else to do, I do.

---

We head back the way I came, down to the ground floor.

The cafeteria that we arrive at is much more modern than the rest of the school. It looks brand new.

I wonder if it’s just been remodelled?

It still has the same large windows as everywhere else though.

“It’s a nice place to have lunch,” Cho says to me.

I guess that supposed to be the point? I’m not used to eating in a cafeteria though.

We make our way over to the crowd of students at the far end of the hall wo must all be waiting to get their lunch.

There’s a menu above the serving counter that stretches across several boards.

That’s a lot of options.

Looking at it more closely, I see that there are a lot of similar dishes on it. Each one with a slightly different set of ingredients.

It must be to accommodate any dietary restrictions.

It’s a giant poster of how we’re not normal, looming over us.

That puts a bit of a dampener on the whole atmosphere for me.

I pick the first thing that I recognise and wait for it to be prepared. Cho’s ordered for Nanami, and the staff don’t seem to mind that she’s taking that much.

Do they know her or are they just that liberal with the servings they give out?

Cho leads me over to a table that Nanami has already claimed for us, and we all start to eat.

The food is nice, but I’m not really hungry.

I’m still thinking about that menu and the shadow that it’s casting over us all.

Cho and Nanami are already in deep conversation about some store in town. I’m not really listening, and they don’t seem to mind. It’s nice not being alone, but it’s also nice not having to engage too much.

---

Once we’re done eating, we head back to class. I’m sure there’s still some time left before lunch ends, so I’m surprised to see that we aren’t the first ones there.

The boy, Giichi, is sitting in his desk, looking the same as when we left. There’s an empty bento box on one corner of his desk and a thick pile of papers in front of him that he seems deeply interested in.

Has he been here the entire time?

He looks up at the noise of our return and sees me starting at him.

Again.

This time he nods at me as if in greeting before returning to his papers. That’s a better interaction than before, I suppose.

Nanami notices that I seem a bit confused. She really can pick up on the smallest things.

“Giichi usually stays here for lunch. He doesn’t like it when the corridors are busy.”

Did he dislike others that much? It seemed a bit extreme.

Cho went on to elaborate, “That’s got nothing to do with how he behaves though. He doesn’t want to get bumped around by mistake. If Emi ran into him, it could cause problems.”

So, there was something wrong with his body?

It must be bad for him to not want to risk being jostled around in the corridor.

These two were once again very open about people’s disabilities. Maybe this much was normal?

I still had no clue what was wrong with Giichi, but I do now know to be careful about what I do when he’s nearby.

The three of us make our way to our desks and start preparing for the next lesson, and it isn’t long before other students begin to show up.

The bell rings, but there’s still no sign of the teacher.

I wonder if something’s gone wrong.

I hear a few whispers throughout the class.

“He’s late again,” says one of them.

Eventually the teacher does show up.

It’s the one I saw earlier talking to that other student, and he somehow looks even worse than he did back then.

“Sorry I’m late,” he begins. “Please open your textbooks to page 108.” He hasn’t yet looked up at the class.

When he does, it seems that seeing me shocks him. It’s as if he has no idea who I am which might be the case based on what little I’ve seen of him.

I haven’t been given my class schedule yet, so I also have no idea what textbook he’s referring to. I look over at Cho and see the science book on her desk.

Oh dear.

Can someone who seems as lost as this really teach such a complicated subject? I hope he can somehow prove me wrong.

He begins to read from his own copy of the textbook, and I have to suppress a groan. It’s terrible. He drones on, page after page, simply repeating what’s written in front of him.

The lesson drags on as I try to find any way to make it interesting for myself. I just hope that things might change once we get to a different topic.

When the bell finally rings, a number of students jump to their feet. It looks like they want to get out of here as quickly as possible. I don’t blame them.

Nanami looks over at me. “Do you want us to give you the grand tour, or have you already got plans?”

Her question reminds me about my appointment.

“I’ve got to go see the nurse,” I reply.

“Want us to go with you?” Cho asks.

“No thank you,” I say quickly.

I’m not ready for that. If they go with me, they might find out what’s wrong with me and I’m not ready for that.

They seem understand that and don’t take any offence at my abrupt and somewhat harsh response.

“You just need to head out the main door and over to the smaller building to the right. You can’t miss it,” Nanami says as the two of them join the stream of students leaving the room.

Soon the class is almost empty. Just me, the teacher, and Giichi. I guess he’s waiting for everyone else to leave first.

As I get up to leave, the teacher waves me over.

Really? I try to figure out what he might want with me as I head over to his desk.

I see that he’s scrutinizing the class register. Is he still trying to figure out who I am?

“Good afternoon, Miss… Nakano,” he finally says.

I’m relieved that he seems to have figured it out.

“I didn’t get to introduce myself earlier. I’m Akio Muto. Your science teacher and the homeroom teacher for 3-3.”

He stares at me with something of a smile on his face. He seems like a nice man, but I can’t really make up my mind. He’s difficult to read, a bit like Kubo, but for entirely different reasons.

It’s as if he’s lost and not entirely sure how to handle the situation that he’s in.

I decide to break the silence. “It’s nice to meet you sir, but I really need to get going. I have an appointment with the nurse.”

“Oh. Okay.” He seems disappointed with that response. “You should get going then.”

I wonder if he wanted to say more even though he didn’t really seem to know what it was that he would say.

With that I head off out of the class to try and find the medical building.

Once I get out of the main building, it’s easy to see where I need to go. A smaller, more modern building stands off to one side. I guess it was a later addition to the school. I head over to it and see a sign on the wall telling what I’ll find here. It seems that this is quite an important building.

Alongside the nurses’ offices, is the Yamaku Foundation office, the teachers lounge, the swimming pool, and physical therapy rooms. I’m surprised to see that the Disciplinary Committee is also located here as well.

I wonder if it’s like that to make you feel uncomfortable about what you’ve done. Drag you away from your usual environment to face your punishment. I hope I won’t be coming here for anything besides my check-ups with the nurse.

I head inside and follow the signs until I reach a door labelled ‘Head Nurse’. I knock on the door and wait for a response. It probably isn’t right just to burst in.

I hear a voice from inside. “Just a moment!”

I look around and see a bench standing across from the door. Might as well sit down while I wait for the nurse to finish whatever it is he’s doing.

A few minutes later, the door opens and the boy from this morning comes out. What a coincidence. He doesn’t look at me as he walks away, and he looks rather subdued. Whatever they'd been talking about couldn’t have been that fun.

“Come in,” calls the voice again.

I look back and see a friendly man waving me into the office. He’s sitting behind a desk that's surprisingly empty. However, the space does show off the countless coffee-cup rings that stain the desk which suggest that he needs a lot of the stuff to keep going.

“Hello,” he continues as he motions for me to sit down across from him. “You must be Hatsumi Nakano. It’s great that you were able to make it.”

He makes it sounds like I could have chosen not to come.

I look him up and down as I ponder what might have happened if I hadn’t pitched up. He’s young. Younger than I would have thought a head nurse should be.

Despite that, he looks as if he’s seen a lot. There’s a rugged edge to his face and dimples that suggest he’s often smiling. He’s seen things both good and bad.

“Yes. I didn’t know I could stay away.” I say slowly.

He breaks out into a huge grin.

“I suppose not,” he says. “I mean you could, but then I’d probably have to send someone to check if you were alright. That would be a lot of trouble, wouldn’t it?”

I nod.

“Well let’s get down to business then. I’ve looked over your file. Epilepsy.”

He says that so matter-of-factly.

“Non-motor epilepsy in fact,” he continues. “Treatment can be difficult to pin down with how hard it is to know how bad you’ve got it, but I have a few ideas on how we can handle your case.”

“You shouldn’t even have to come in to see me that often. I’d like to see you at the start of each week for now, but after that we can reduce the visits. Unless you feel something change that is. Then you should come in straight away. There’s always somebody on duty.”

Just like the emergency centre in a hospital. They mentioned the 24-hour care as one of Yamaku’s highlights. I had noticed that the entire floor was dedicated to medical care on my way here.

“You’re ready for anything, aren’t you?” I say quietly.

The nurse must have good hearing because he quips back. “Don’t come in expecting us to reattach any bits of you that you somehow manage to cut off.”

He’s another joker. How many does this school have?

“Well, let me tell you what I’d like you to do while you’re here," he says. "As it stands, your condition isn’t that bad. You can do most things like you always have. I would prefer that you didn’t go into town alone though. Make sure someone is with you to look out for you or call for help if necessary.”

I grimace at this.

“I know, I know,” he continues. “But don’t think of it as if you’ve got a minder. Just take a friend with you. I know it’s only your first day, but I’m sure you’ll soon have some new friends to spend time with you.”

I suppose that it’s nice that he’s got such confidence in my ability to make friends quickly.

“And you’ll also need this,” he says handing me a small black box. It looks a bit like a miniature radio. “That’s a pager. It will send a message to this one here.”

He holds up a similar looking device.

“Press the button on the front of yours,” he tells me. I look at the pager in my hands, see the button he’s talking about, and press it.
The one he’s holding beeps a few times.

“Since your condition could worsen at any time, we need to know that your okay. You’ll check in with us throughout the day to make sure that you’re alright. That means when you wake up. 7 am at the latest.

I groan.

“Then at midday and at 6 pm. Please don’t miss any of them as we’ll be looking for you if you do. Do you understand all of that?” He asks.

“Yes.” I respond.

“Good. As for your medication, I don’t want to change anything for the moment. We’ll talk about that as and when we need to make changes. Also, please take this journal. I’d be grateful if you could record when and where any seizures take place. It will be helpful to monitor your case.”

I nod in response to this, taking the little book that he hands over to me.

“It’s not really my place to interfere, but you should also get involved in school life. Join a sport or cultural club. Taking care of yourself mentally and socially is just as important to your health as any medicine can be.”

I just look at him blankly. I’m not exactly looking to get involved in anything just yet.

“Well, my door is always open if you need to see me," he says.

Another joke. It wasn’t when I got here, but I get the point.

He seems done with me as he gets up and heads over to one of the bookshelves to slide my file in with other the others, before browsing them to find some other student’s.

I guess it's time for me to go then.

---

I’m standing in front of the girl’s dorm building. Its large and looks a lot like the main school building.

Heading inside, I’m greeted by a large common room. There are sofas and armchairs scattered around the room. Many of them have some kind of table nearby. A TV is on in the corner, and there’s a small kitchen as well. It'll be nice not having to go all the way to the cafeteria to get a snack.

Several chairs are occupied, but I don’t recognize any of their occupants. I've only really met one class so far so that makes sense. One of the girls is fast asleep. Another looks over at me and waves.

I wave back.

I head over to the stairs and start climbing them while I fish out my room key. Three floors up. Room 308. While the exterior was old, the interior is well suited to the schools needs.

Clean, bright, wide corridors with elevators in the middle and at each end of the building.

As I reach my floor, I look at the wall to see which way I need to go. 301-320 to my left, 321-340 to my right.

I turn left and continue my journey. Despite the wide halls. It’s still a bit of a warren. Branching off of the main corridor are smaller passages. Each one has the room numbers displayed next to them.

I walk along passing each one. 317-320, 313-316, 309-312.

305-308.

I turn into the corridor.

My room is the first one on the right. At the end of the passage is a bathroom. I guess I’ll be sharing it with three other students.

Under my room number is a little bronze plaque with ‘Nakano’ etched into it. It looks nice and professional, but the lack of anonymity is unsettling. I suppose it’s important to know who’s in which room in an emergency.

I look over at the door opposite mine and examine its bronze plaque. I don’t recognize the name, but I don’t really expect to. It looks like two of my dorm mates aren’t back yet, but light shines out from under this door. Shadows also move across it indicating that someone is in there.

I knock on the door. It wouldn’t hurt to be friendly. The movement inside comes to an abrupt stop as I stand there for a few moments. I decide to knock again.

“Hello? It’s your new dorm mate.” I call out.

A voice suddenly calls out to me from the other side of the door. It’s more of a hiss and the origin seems to be right up against the door.

“Step away from the door.”

I decide that it’s best to comply.

The door slowly begins to open and a head pokes out. She’s wearing a face mask and some kind of visor over her eyes. As the door opens further it gets even weirder. She’s wearing an apron and rubber gloves. In one hand is a cloth and in the other is a spray bottle filled with what looks like soapy water.

She seems happy that I’m now pressed up against my own door.

Without saying anything she begins to spray down and rub the door roughly where I had been knocking.

What's that about? This took some time, but she eventually nodded in apparent satisfaction before turning to me.

I can’t really make out any of her features due to the strange outfit. That she has short, black hair is all I can say.

“Hands,” she says, turning to me. It sounds like and order. To do what, I’m not exactly sure.

“Hands,” she repeats. “Hold them out.”

I comply slowly, and she suddenly starts to spray them down with her bottle.

I would have liked to jump further away if that had been possible.

“Now rub them clean,” she orders me while making scrubbing motions with her own hands. “Use that over there whenever you come back to the dorm next time.”

I turn to follow her gaze and see a stand with a bottle of hand sanitizer at the entrance to our corridor.

I turn back to her and nod.

This apparently satisfies her as she steps back into her room and places her cloth and bottle to the side before stepping out again. She steps back into her room to put some distance between us.

“It’s good to meet you.” She says in a much less strained voice. I can see from her eyes that she’s calmed down a lot. “I’m Chiharu Shiramizu. And you are… Nakano.”

She peers past me to read my name off the plaque before nodding her head as if she agrees with what it says. Is there anything to disagree with when it comes to my name?

“Yes. I’m Hatsumi Nakano. I hope we get on well together.” I say this while thinking about how difficult that might be.

This behaviour doesn’t look like it’s the kind of thing that will go away. Is she a germaphobe?

“Your parents were here earlier,” she tells me. “At least I think they were your parents. I had to clean up after they left. Please let them know about the procedure if they decide to visit again.”

The conversation ends there as she fully retreats into her room. All I hear is the sound of a lock clicking shut.

I turn back to my own door, deciding that its best to move on from that strange encounter.

I slide my key into the lock and push open the door.

The room is pretty much what I expected of a boarding school, which is actually in stark contrast to the rest of the school. Beige walls, faded curtains, a bed frame and desk made of the same light, cheap wood.

The only thing that stands out is the floral pattern on the bed sheets. Those are new. My parents must have put them on for me. My bags are also standing empty in the corner.

I must thank them when I get the chance.

I decide to rummage through the cupboards, and I see that everything has been arranged into winter and summer clothes, and then by colour.

That must have been Mom.

I flop onto the bed and wonder what I’m supposed to do now. There’s no need to unpack anything, though I suppose I could go look for something to do.

I go over to my school bag and pull out the days work.

That will keep me occupied and help to keep me from being too lost in tomorrow’s classes.

I look up and see my medication on the shelf. There isn’t much. Only three bottles and my pill box. The Monday slot is already empty, taken this morning, so I don’t have to worry about that until tomorrow.

I move that to my side table so that I can forget it. I also place my pager on my desk.

Mustn’t forget about that. I don’t want Nurse busting my door down on the first day.

At 6 pm I press the button on my pager and start to get ready to go to bed. It’s still a bit early, but I can finish the one book I brought with me tonight.

Tomorrow I’ll have to stop off at the library to get something new.

---

< Previous Chapter - Next Chapter >

Across no man’s land

My alarm clock jolts me awake just in time for my morning check-in. I reach over to disable it and fumble around for the pager.
There we go.

I’m safe from being hunted down by a squad of alarmed nurses.

I slept well.

While it’s strange to be looking up at an unfamiliar ceiling, it didn’t affect my sleep. I’ve never had trouble with that.

I get up, grab my pills, and head over to the desk. Looking at the schedule I got after class yesterday, I begin to pack the books that I’ll be needing. No point in hauling around unnecessary weight.

Pulling out a fresh set of clothes, I examine them for a moment. It’s a nice uniform. Not as fancy as some I’ve seen, but not too cheap looking either. The fabric feels nice enough to wear even when I might not have to be in uniform.

Thinking back to yesterday’s events, I decide that the most unusual part of this school is definitely the students. Not even because of their disabilities or conditions. I’ve been thinking about those far more than I’ve actually encountered any of them. The students’, as well as the staffs’, personalities and quirks are what get to me.

Many of them seem like very nice people, but I don’t think I’ve really encountered anyone quite like them before. The twin-like Cho and Nanami, the stand-offish Chiharu and Giichi, even Kubo and Muto would be oddities anywhere else.

Maybe that’s this place’s special power. It makes you weird enough that the other issues are unable to take centre stage? Or maybe I’m just unlucky enough to have only met the weirdos so far?

Maybe a morning shower will help clear all of this up. I gather my toiletries and towel before heading out into the corridor.

As I turn back to lock my door, I hear a high-pitched shriek. I freeze. It sounds less like someone is in danger and is rather out of excitement.

“I can’t believe it’s true!”

I couldn’t either.

Is this really my fate?

I turn and see the tiny Nanami rushing towards me. Somehow Cho is also suddenly out of what must be her dorm room. Did I summon them with my thoughts?

“We actually are neighbours,” Cho calls out with a far calmer tone. “Now we really are responsible for looking after you.”

I’m still standing motionless, processing all of this, when Nanami throws herself at me. She’s so light that I hardly move. I guess bear hugs are now on the table.

“Finally, our duo can become a trio!” Nanami says looking at the door across from me with a small pout on her face. I wonder if she tried to recruit Chiharu before and how badly that must have gone.

“Calm down, Nanami,” Cho says as she gently pries her partner off of me. “We can’t rush these things. It might scare our Hatsumi away.”

It seems that they have indeed decided to adopt me. As a friend or a pet, I’m not entirely sure.

Cho sees what I’m carrying and begins to drag Nanami back to her room. Namami waves to me and, just before the two of them disappear from sight, calls out, “See you in class.”

Well, I now know what I’ve got ahead of me at least.

---

I get to class early, knowing what awaits me when I get there.

As expected, Cho and Nanami are waiting for me. I might as well make the best of this relationship that I’ve had no say in creating.

“How’s everything been going so far? All settled in?” Cho opens the conversations as I sit down.

Nanami slides into the desk in front of her to make the conversation easier. I guess they’ve been kept apart purposefully.

“It’s going well so far,” I respond. “Though it would be nice if you could fill me in on a few things.”

“What do you want to know.” Nanami says, leaning forward with a huge smile on her face.”

“Well, the nurse mentioned something about joining a club. What is there?”

“There are a lot of clubs to choose from. What might you be interested in?” Cho asks.

“I’m in the band,” Nanami interrupts before going silent at the scolding look she gets from Cho.

“Reading is probably one of my biggest hobbies. I also like to play tennis.”

I say nothing about going for walks. I’m not sure that’s the kind of thing you would have a club for.

“There’s the literature club, I suppose,” Cho begins. “Not sure you’ll get in there though. They always seem full. I heard there’s even a waiting list.”

“I don’t think we have tennis here?” Nanami seems to phrase this more as a question than as a statement.

“No,” Cho confirms. “The most popular sports club is the track team. We’re always willing to take on another member.”

I now know what club Cho is in. I wonder what her speciality is.

“All the team sports only allow a certain number of students. Two teams for each so that they can practice against each other. There’s a fencing club but that’s just one student and a teacher,” Nanami says.

“There are plenty of cultural clubs as well, "Cho continues. "I’m guessing you don’t play an instrument though, so band’s not an option. There’s the art club, the history club, the games club. You could join something more official like the Student Council, but I wouldn’t recommend that. Especially now.”

I must look confused because Nanami chimes in. “The girls in the student council can be… Difficult to handle.”

Cho nods her head in agreement. Can these two really say that about others?

She elaborates further, “With the festival coming up this weekend they’re also busy trying to organize it all. I don’t know how the two of them are able to get through so much paperwork.

The idea of a festival has me intrigued. That it’s organized by the students is even more interesting. I’d been involved in festivals before, but usually the classes just came up with the ideas and left the teachers to plan everything for them. Once again it seems like the students at this school are very capable individuals. I certainly wouldn’t be able to handle this much.

Suddenly, Nanami is right up in my face, waving her hand.

“Hatsumi? Hatsumi… You still in there?”

I lurch back, surprising both girls. My cheeks begin to burn with both embarrassment and shame.

It just happened.

It’s the first time I’ve picked up on one of my seizures since I arrived. They mostly go by unnoticed. If I’m on my own or in the middle of class, there’s nothing to pick up on. Conversations are where it sticks out.

I turn back to my desk mumbling about how I need a moment. I scratch around in my bag, partly because I need to record it in my journal but mostly because I don’t want to talk about what just happened.

I haven’t told anyone, and I don’t want to start now.

Cho and Nanami pick up on that and leave me alone. Cho starts getting her things out while Nanami moves back to her desk.

I stare at the first blank page in my journal. What to write?

I end up deciding on starting with ‘Week 1’ in bold letters across the top of the page.

I look up at the clock and then fill in: Tuesday; 7:48; Mid-conversation.

Thinking back to what I might have missed I try to figure out how long it lasted. In the end I add ‘30 seconds?’ to the line.

I don’t really feel like getting involved in another conversation, so I start preparing for the first lesson and leave it at that.

---

The day passes by uneventfully. I buzz my pager, have lunch, and before long, the final bell of the day rings. I’m all packed up and about to leave when Kubo calls me over.

“I hope you’re starting to get the hang of it,” he begins. “Once you start to think of it as just another school day, you’ll be perfectly at home.”

His face still confuses me and he’s loud enough to be having a conversation with the entire class.

“Anyway, there are some papers that need to be delivered to the student council, and it would do you some good to meet them. They’re quite important and we don’t want them making any decisions for us regarding the festival.”

He barks again after this.

"Is he trying to pair me up with all the strange duos in the school?" I wonder as I think back to what Cho said earlier.

He hands me a set of papers before explaining where the student council is. Guess I can’t get out of it that easily. They’re only at the other end of this floor.

“Off you go,” he says, almost shooing me out of the room. “And get to know them while you’re at it. You might make a few more friends.”

I make my way down the corridor and eventually reach the room in question. I look inside and see two girls waving their hands at each other.

The one that draws my attention first has long, bright pink hair. While that is eye-catching enough, it’s actually her laugh that gets my attention.

She’s very loud.

The other girl has short, blue hair and is wearing glasses. Her expression is much more serious than her partner’s.

I realize that the rapid hand movement is actually them speaking in sign language.

“I know it’s busy at the moment Shicchan, but I’m sure we’ll be able to get him to join. Then we’ll have much less to do ourselves.”

The pink haired girl says all of this while continuing to sign. The other girl remains silent as she signs back.

Why the talking as well?

The one girl, Shicchan? Looks over at me and frowns before she starts to sign at me in what looks to be an impatient tone. Can sign language have a tone? And how am I meant to know what she’s saying?

Luckily, the pink haired girl turns to me as well and apparently translates what was just said.

“Are those forms for the festival? Bring them here.”

I walk over to hand them over, but Shicchan snatches them away first. After looking over the front page she nods slightly before placing them on the table next to her so that she can continue… Speaking?

“Class 3-4?” The pink haired girl translates. “You must be the new girl. I don’t recognize you.”

Apparently, she doesn’t really pay attention to what she’s translating because it’s only now that realization spread across her face. “You transferred here with Hisao!”

What? I didn’t transfer with anyone.

“Well, not with him.” She continues apparently translating again. “The two of you started at the same time.”

Oh. That makes sense now that I think about it. I kept running into that boy because we were probably following the same programme for our first day.

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Misha.” She’s positively beaming. “And this is Shicchan. We’re from class 3-3.”

“It’s nice to meet you too.” I say, not entirely sure who to address that to.

Shicchan smiles too once Misha translates what I said which means that I haven’t done anything wrong.

There’s another flurry of hand signs between them before Shicchan heads off to find something from among a stack of papers.

Misha turns back to me looking slightly more subdued, but still fairly energetic.

“Since you’re in class 3-4, you can take these to the disciplinary committee.”

What does that mean. Why do they want me to do it, and what does my class have anything to do with it?

Misha sees my confused expression and starts to explain. Unfortunately, her explanation doesn’t answer any of my questions. In fact, it leaves me more confused.

“You see, Shicchan is very organised.” Misha is apparently trying to whisper in a conspiratorial tone, but I’m sure Shicchan would have heard everything she said if she wasn’t deaf. “The Disciplinary Committee chairman is as well, but the two of them have very different ideas of how their duties should be carried out. She’s a troublemaker and he doesn’t like that. They always argue.”

Misha laughs at this, and I gulp. So, I’m being drafted as a messenger to be sent into hostile territory? What could go wrong?

Shicchan returns with a large folder full of papers and holds it out to me. I take it in one hand and almost drop it. It’s very heavy.

“You know where the Disciplinary committee office is, right?” Misha translates.

“I do.”

“Great.” Misha beams at me. “You better get going. Don’t want to keep them waiting.”

The two of them head back over to the table and carry on their conversation in sign.

I turn away now burdened with this overweight file and begin my journey to a room I had wanted to avoid.

---

After making my way across the school, I now stand just down from the Disciplinary committee office.

Here goes nothing.

I step inside and am greeted by a similar yet very different sight. Two students sit across from each other working on their own large piles of paperwork.

These two also have some peculiarities.

The first is the boy sitting left.

How is he a student? He’s massive. Not fat, but rather built like a barn door. He’s tall as well.

Why does he have a moustache?

Not even the typical whispery moustache that I’ve seen some students try to grow, but a massive, well-groomed moustache. I didn’t know they were allowed.

He must have foreign parents based not only on his build, but due to his blonde hair and pale green eyes.

He looks up at me and smiles. “Rei, we’ve got company.”

He has an accent too, but I can’t place it.

I switch my attention to the girl, Rei.

What stands out most about her is the strip of red amongst a head of black hair. It really is quite attention grabbing.

“Hello. What can we do to help you?” She asks. She has a strange way of speaking. It’s as if she’s sung the question, and is in the middle of some musical.

“The student council asked me to drop this off.” I respond holding out the folder in both hands.

“Finally. It seems Shizune has gotten all those permission forms together. I’ll take those of your hands.”

I guess that’s Shicchans real name?

Rei walks over and grabs the folder in one hand. Her right arm remains at her side which leaves me surprised at how easily she does it. I couldn't have carried it like that.

“It’s unfair of them to send you all the way here to drop this off. Come on. Pull up a chair and we can talk about how you’re settling in.”

“How do you…” I begin, but the boy? Man? Cuts in.

“Disciplinary Committee is told about all new students. There’s often trouble with sudden transfers, and we like to be prepared. I’m Toru by the way. Nice to meet you.” He says, reaching out to shake my hand.

I shake his hand and see that it dwarfs my own.

Rei comes over and leads me around to a chair that she pulls up beside her own.

“So, you made in friends in 3-4 yet? It’s an interesting class. Sort of a melting pot of peculiarities.”

“You’ve met Cho and Nanami,” I blurt out before I can stop myself. Toru laughs at this.

“They can be an interesting pair,” Rei says with a nod, “but don’t worry, once you get to know everyone, you’ll see that everyone has their own… Thing?”

She tilts her head to the side as if she can’t quite find the word to describe my class.

Great, why couldn’t I be in class 3-3.

I’m about to say something when Rei looks over my shoulder.

“Afternoon,” she says with a smile, holding up the folder. “Shizune’s forms have arrived.”

“Good,” someone replies.

I turn to look at the source of the voice.

In the doorway is Giichi.

Why?

He walks up to Rei and takes the folder from her before walking around to the head of the table.

He’s the Disciplinary Committee Chairman? What Misha said makes sense now. We’re in the same class. Didn’t anyone think to tell me?

I realize that through all of this he hasn’t acknowledged my presence.

That’s normal, I guess.

“Have you greeted Hatsumi yet?” Rei calls over to him.

He looks up and seems surprised to see me. Was he just that focused on his work?

He nods to me but says nothing. I decide to wave. That seems to work for him as he starts flipping through the file, scanning the pages as if he’s looking for something.

“Don’t worry. Hang about long enough and he’ll open up to you,” Rei says in her lilting tone.

Did I want to hang around long enough?

“Let’s get to know each other while he checks over those,” she adds.

Both Rei and Toru have discarded their work and seem much more interested in me than whatever Giichi has them working on.

“So, you’re in your final year.” This was a statement rather than a question from Rei. “I’m in my second year, while Toru’s a first year.”

“And you’re both already on the committee?” I ask.

“Someone needs to take over the duties of their senior each year,” Toru says. “He’s the chairman, Rei’s vice-chair, and I’m General Committee. I’ll get her spot and she’ll get his at the end of the year.”

That was surprisingly organised of them. A far better plan for the future that whatever the student council seemed to be doing.

Off to the side, Giichi was beginning to mutter to himself.

We all look over at him. Rei and Toru look worried.

“Wrong.” A few pages flip.

“Wrong” A few more.

“Missing.” Another page flips.

“Shouldn’t be here.”

He looks up exasperatedly. Finally, I see some emotion from him.

“I know she needs the help, but how can Shizune let her anywhere near this paperwork?”

He doesn’t seem to be looking for an answer to his question and he apparently doesn’t hold Misha’s ability for handling paperwork very highly.

“Rei, get the file for external contractor permissions for me. We need to go fix this. Toru, you’re coming too.”

They both jump to their feet and Rei rushes over to the shelves. After a brief pause, she pulls a large black binder off the shelf. Once again, her right arm dangles at her side. Why do I keep noticing that?

Giichi is struggling to his feet. His back remains straight the whole time and his stiff, slow movements make the entire process look extremely awkward.

Once they all seem ready, Giichi heads for the door. “Let’s go.”

I don’t think he includes me in this order, but I’m swept along by the authority that has suddenly entered his voice. The commanding tone is something you're forced to consider.

Toru leads the way out of the room, quickly followed by Giichi, Rei, and, finally, me.

Once out in the corridor, Rei moves out next to, and slightly ahead of, Giichi, leaving me to trail behind the group.

I thought that Giichi would take the lead, but it seemed not.

They're also going a lot faster than I 'd seen him move before. I thought he was worried about collisions?

My place at the back of this group gives me time to examine them, and I realize something. It seems that they were travelling in some kind of formation. Giichi is up against the wall while the other two screen of any traffic coming down the corridor towards them. They seem to be used to this as they marched along.

On our way out we come across the nurse. He isn’t really paying attention to where he's going, but I'm able to get a look at his reaction when he notices us coming towards him. I see a flash of terror spread across his face and he quickly presses himself against the opposite wall.

That's an unexpected sight that I'll remember for some time. The sight of Toru heading towards you must be rather intimidating I decide as I glance at the nurse as we pass him.

“Hi,” I call out as we pass and his look of confusion at seeing me is nearly as good.

We keep up the pace as we leave the building and cross the grounds heading back to the main building. Students scatter before us in the same way the nurse did.

It’s kind of fun. Toru and Rei are like a human snowplough, scooping up students and tossing them aside to make way for those who follow.

It carries on like this until we reach the student council room where Giichi is finally allowed to take the lead.

We sweep into the room without a pause, and I see Misha and Shizune in a similar state as when I left them.

They both turn to us, and their hands go still. They seem to know why we’re here as Shizune’s eyes narrow and Misha falls silent.

“It’s all wrong.”

He may look fierce, but his voice is filled with frustration rather than anger. “I know it’s a lot to do, but it needs to be done right. I can’t send these out to the contractors!” He waves some of the papers he’s pulled out of the folder at the girls.

Misha is still for a moment before translating what Giichi has said.

Shizune begins to sign something back, but before Misha can translate any of it, Giichi answers, “If you have to look over it yourself, then that’s what you need to do. You know Misha can get distracted easily and ends up making mistakes.”

Did he predict what Shizune’s answer was going to be? He also seems to know Misha quite well. Apparently, his tense relationship with Shizune doesn’t stop him from knowing how they operate.

It looks like what he said has put a dampener on Misha’s bubbly personality. I suppose he has just accused her of incompetence.

This causes a wave of annoyance to pass over Shizune’s face as she steps forward and begins to sign faster than I thought possible.

Apparently, Misha can’t keep up as she stumbles over the start of her translation before giving up.

I’m wondering what we’re supposed to do now that Shizune has apparently become incomprehensible.

Giichi stepping forwards as well, and dumping his papers on the table, suddenly responds to Shizune in kind.

I turn to Rei in shock.

“His mother is deaf,” is her only response.

Oh.

“Let’s leave them to it and help Misha get these forms in order,” says Toru.

He picks up the file from next to this silent argument and brings them over to us.

“Misha, how about we start by sorting yours out from the pile.”

“Okay!” she says.

Apparently, nothing can keep her mood down for long. She also seems to accept that she’s the one who's made the mistakes.

We each grab some of the pages and start to separate them into two piles. Somehow even Misha’s handwriting looks happy.

I look over at the two who are still signing away to each other. They don’t seem as upset any more.

“What’s up with them?” I ask. “I thought they didn’t get on.”

“It can seem like that,” Rei says, “Their relationship is… Complicated? It’s all to do with their parents. Giichi’s is a hotshot lawyer. Very good.
Supposedly he can get you out of anything. That’s were Giichi get his manners from. You should see how similar they can be.”

“Okay,” I say.

“Well, his father did some work for Shizune’s father’s brother-in-law. Her uncle, I guess? Well, he introduced their parents, and they became friends. Giichi would occasionally come over with his father and, since he knew sign language, he would end up hanging out with Shizune.”

“It might look like they don’t like each other, but I think it’s just that they’re too similar not to butt heads,” Toru adds. “They’re both smart and they know how to get things to go their own way. They might go about it differently, but you get the same results in the end.”

It does sound complicated, but it also sort of makes sense. I wonder if Misha is just a bit to open and friendly to pick up on the undertones of their interactions?

---

Once Shizune and Giichi had finished their conversation, they rejoined us around the piles of forms. Apparently, they didn’t have time to show me what to do, which is how I ended up standing alone outside the student council room, having been shooed out by Shizune.

Looks like my afternoon is once again free.

I remember that I still to get to the library and set off to find it before it closes.

It’s supposed to be somewhere around here, but it suddenly feels as if the rooms I’m walking past are not as well labelled as I had thought. There were a number of unmarked doors and no signs to give me any clues as to which way I should be going.

I pick a direction and start walking. If I can’t find it, I’m sure I’ll run into someone who can guide me.

After walking for a bit, I come across a door that is slightly ajar. I don’t think that it’s the library, it looks too similar to the other classrooms, but there might be someone in there that can help me.

I push the door open, and it creaks loudly. Inside I’m greeted by the sight of a lone boy. He looks like he’s trying to rearrange a whole lot of boxes.

The process is unusually slow as he runs his hands across their surfaces, and around the edges of each box before picking it up. He then repeats this process to put them away, feeling his way along the shelves until he finds what he’s looking for. Apart from this behaviour, he looks very plain.

“Excuse me,” I call out.

“Yes, who is it?” He answers without turning to look at me. He’s still feeling around as if he can’t see the boxes in front of him.

“Hi,” I say, unsure of how to proceed. “I’m Natsumi Nakano from class 3-4.”

Now he does turn to face me, but there’s no sign of recognition on his face. He’s staring at me, but it’s also as if he’s looking right past me.

His brown eyes are glassy. As if they aren’t real. There’s no movement or light to them.

He’s blind, I realise.

“I don’t recognize that name. Are you visiting for something.” He asks.

“No,” I respond. “I transferred in yesterday.”

“Ah, that makes sense. Otherwise, I’m sure we would have met before, and I try to never forget a name.”

He has a very smooth voice and seems to be incredibly polite.

“Would you like to come in and have a seat?” he asks.

“Would you like some help,” I blurt out.

“That’s very kind of you,” he responds with a smile. “It can take some time putting all of these games away without any help.”

I walk over to him and see that there are boxes of board games laid out in front of him on the tables. This must be the games club that Cho told me about.

“Why are you doing this?” I ask and immediately cringe.

He’s blind, but why do I have to make it sound like he’s incapable. No. I stop myself. I think it’s a fair question. There must be others in the club who could help make this task easier.

He seems to understand what I’m getting at.

“I am the club president. It’s my job to look after this place and everything in it. I wouldn’t be much good if I wasn’t at least able to tidy up the place. I enjoy it as well. I get to check that everything is left as it should be.”

“But someone could help out.” I continue. “It’s got nothing to do with your blindness.”

There, I’ve actually gone and said it. Why did I do that? It’s the first time someone’s disability has been brought up in a negative way since I arrived and I’m the one who’s done it.

‘It’s not that bad,” he responds without a hint of anger. “Stop worrying about what you should and shouldn’t say.”

He apparently doesn’t need eyes to read me.

“We’re all different. We all have different needs. As long as you aren’t rude, and don’t stare to long, they won’t care. We’re all used to being different and, most of the time, people’s actions and questions come from a good place. They want to know more, they want to help, they want to sympathize. Let them and it all becomes a lot easier.”

Where's this coming from? I didn’t know this boy. Why was he being so open with me?

“Sure, many people have trauma attached to their disability,” he continues, “but it’s much harder to hit that nerve than you think. You lose a hand. That sucks, but before long it doesn’t matter. How you lost it will stick with you far longer. That’s the real problem they have to face. You have some illness, and you learn to live with it on a day-to-day basis. It’s what happens at some point in the future that scares you.”

Can it really be that simple? Just live with it?

“Try to deal with your current position now. Once you’ve got the hang of that, you can worry about the future. Only if it’s justified though. Don’t search for things to use as obstacles on your journey.”

“Are you a therapist?” I ask him.

He smiles back at me.

“No, but a lot of people have come to me looking for answers. I guess it’s easier for them to start talking when it’s with someone that can’t see them. They feel like they aren’t being judged. They all start out thinking that the reason they’re here defines them. They’re like you.”

“How do you know what I’m going through,” I say defensively.

“Because everyone goes through the same thing. At least something similar. Everyone that wasn’t born with it. Maybe even some that are,” he trails off as if he’s thinking about someone in particular.

“How about we finish packing all of this away.” I say, changing the subject.

“That would be a good idea. I’m sorry for all of that, by the way. I shouldn’t really be trying to lecture you without your permission.”

“No, it’s fine,” I tell him. “In fact, I sort of grateful that someone has finally been so straightforward with me. I’ve been tiptoeing around it this whole time, not sure what to do.”

“Well, that’s good,” he says. “Do let me know if you ever want more advice.”

With that he begins feeling around for boxes once more.

I look down at the boxes on the table in front of me and see that there’s a sticker on the top right corner of each one. They have raised dots on them. It must be braille so that blind students can tell what they have in their hands. The shelves to the side also have stickers that are slightly larger and have the names in braille and written out. That must help to ensure that the games are always returned to the same place. It must make things easier to keep track of.

“What brought you here?” he asks as the two of us continue the work.

“I was looking for the library and got a little lost,” I answer sheepishly.

“A common experience for new students at any school,” he replies. “I’ll take you there once we finish tidying up.”

“You don’t need to do that,” I hastily respond. “Directions will be just fine.”

“Nonsense, I’ll take you there,” he says adamantly. “I’ll be going there anyway. I know a chess set is missing and the library is likely where it ended up.”

“Well, thank you for the guidance. I guess.”

“You’re welcome.”

Some time passes and we finally finish packing away the last box. There is indeed a chess set missing.

The boy turns to me. I suddenly realise that I don’t know his name.

“I’m sorry,” I apologize, as I begin to bow before stopping myself. That won’t mean anything to him. “I never asked what your name was.”

“It’s Hiraku. And we got there in the end so don’t worry about not having asked earlier.”

I smile. He really is nice. He’s also very calm. It’s a nice change of pace from the whirlwind that everyone else seems to be a part of.

Hiraku walks over to the side table and feels along it until he reaches his goal. A cane.

I’m surprised by its design. It is far more decorative than others like it that I’ve seen before. A shaft of wood with dark and light patches weaving together into a swirling pattern all along its length. Does any of that matter to him? The handle is also made of wood. Carved to be more comfortable to hold. The tip is the only part that differs from the intricate craftsmanship. The point is made of metal. Dull and worn from long use.

“Let’s get going,” he says, making his way towards the door, tapping away at the ground ahead of him.

He walks slower than my previous companions, but it’s still impressive considering he can’t see anything. I’d be terrified of smashing into something.

What would have happened if he’d ran into the disciplinary committee earlier? I picture Toru flattening him without even pausing and the rest of them simply walking over what was left.

No, they’d go around him. I’m sure they would.

He leads us along to a set of doors in the centre of the building. I must have walked right past it.

“Ladies first,” he says, smiling.

I go in ahead of him.

I’m about to stop so that I can get a sense of the library before deciding that it’s best to move out of the way for Hiraku to follow.

On the left is the librarian’s desk. It’s empty. To the right is the rest of the library.

It’s large, more like a public library than a school one. I’m also hit with the familiar smell of thousands of old books.

I don’t see many students, but they could easily be hidden away amongst the shelves and alcoves.

“Good afternoon, Yuuko?” He says.

I wonder who he’s talking to?

“There’s nobody here,” I tell him.

“Give her a moment,” he responds.

There’s a sudden shriek followed by a thud. It came from behind the closest bookshelf.

I rush over and around to find out what has happened and see a woman lying dazed on the floor next to a step ladder. Hiraku joins me.

“Are you alright,” he asks, only slightly concerned.

“I’ll be fine,” the woman moans.

This must be the librarian. Hiraku called her Yuuko, I think.

He apparently seems used to this type of scenario. Is the librarian often involved in accidents like this?

“Hiraku, I hope I didn’t disturb you,” she says in a pained voice.

Is that really what she’s concerned about?

I put my hand out to help her to her feet, but she ignores it. She struggles valiantly to her feet trying to show that she wasn’t hurt in the fall, but she’s not a very good actor.

“What happened this time?” Hiraku asks. I think that question is meant for me.

“She fell off a ladder,” I say.

This seems to concern him.

“Don’t worry, I wasn’t that high up,” Yuuko interjects.

She really doesn’t want to inconvenience anyone.

“Take a moment to recover,” He suggests. “Even if it wasn’t serious. You’ll need to catch your breath and calm your nerves.”

“I will. I will," she says. "Just do whatever it was you needed to do, and I’ll be at my desk.”

Yuuko hesitantly takes a step, stops for a moment, and sets of at a cautious pace. Apparently, she took that suggestion as an invitation to leave.

Hiraku seems to sense that Yuuko has left us and states, “Well, now that we’re here, I’m sure you’d like to look around. I’m going to try and find the chess set in one of the reading areas. If you see it, please do let me know.”

“Thank you for the help,” I say. “And for the advice.”

“That’s what I’m here for. I hope we meet again Hatsumi.”

With that he turns and heads of between the shelves, the sound of tapping leading the way.

I decide to head in the opposite direction and see if anything catches my eye.

I come across books of all kinds. A lot of the front of the library is filled with academic books. History, geography, and so on. It’s probably so students don’t have to go searching for study material. Further in I start to come across biographies and then the novels. Many of them catch my eye and I decide to grab a few.

When I get to the other end of the library, I see that there are desks set out for students to work at. They’re as far from the noise of the school as possible.

Heading around the edge of the library, I come across several reading alcoves. These are filled with armchairs and beanbags for students to relax in.

Halfway along, I’m met with a peculiar sight. A girl is sleeping in the middle of the alcove. There’s a book discarded on the floor as if she passed out while reading.

What is interesting is the massive pile of beanbags that surround her. She’s crafted her own chair out of them and has apparently sunk into them fast asleep.

The craftsmanship can’t be too good as it looks as if it’s about to collapse and send her onto the floor alongside her book.

I decide that its best to try and save her before she ends up like Yuuko.

The task of holding the beanbags together soon proves to be impossible. I prop up one side and the other start to collapse. It seems like I’ll have to wake the girl up.

“Hey,” I say, touching her shoulder. “Wake up.”

“Come on,” I continue shaking her harder.

The structure is really beginning to come apart now.

At this she begins to stir, groggily at first, but she becomes much more alert as she realizes what is happening.

Her arms flail around for balance and, when she sees me, she grabs onto my arm. I’m suddenly forced to pull her up with all my might to stop us both from collapsing to the floor.

Once we’re both recovered, the girl looks at me. She seems to be dozing off again.

How can someone fall asleep that quickly?

“Are you alright?” I ask her.

That seems to bring her back.

“Thanks,” she says yawning, “You saved my life.”

A bit of an overstatement, but I appreciate the sentiment.

She looks at me closely and nods. She then turns and wanders off without another word. She’s weaving her way down the aisle.

Will she make it out without falling asleep again?

I carry on around the library, but I don’t see her anywhere. She must have made it out.

When I reach the front of the library, I see Hiraku and Yuuko talking to each other. He has a chess board under one arm. It seems like he was successful.

“Hey, did anyone just come past here? A sleepy girl?” I ask.

I’m not sure of a better description.

“Someone did just leave,” said Hiraku. “Yuuko, do you know if it was Suzu?”

Hiraku did say that he knew a lot of people.

“Yes, it was her.” Yuuko responded, looking relieved that Hiraku had basically answered for her.

“Did you want her for something?” He asked.

“No. I saw her as she was about to have an accident in her sleep and helped her up. I was just wondering if she made it out. She looked like she was about to pass out again.”

“Good thing that you were there to help,” Hiraku praised me. “Well done.”

I blushed at that and felt guiltily grateful that he wouldn’t be able to see it.

“Well, I need to get this back to the club room,” he said holding the chess board up. “See you again. Yuuko. Hatsumi.”

“Bye,” I said. Yuuko bobbed her head and then looked incredibly embarrassed by her mistake. With Hiraku out the door there was nothing she could do to fix that.

I walk over to her and place the books I’ve chosen on the table.

“Would you like to take these out?” she asks.

“Yes, please.” I guess she’s in a routine. I didn’t have them with me when I arrived so why else would I bring them to her?

Yuuko carefully checks each book out before handing them back to me. “They’re due back in two weeks. You can renew them twice unless someone else has reserved them.

“Thank you,” I say. That was good to know.

---

When I make it back to my room, I see the bathroom door open at the end of the corridor.

Chiharu is down on her knees in the same outfit I saw her in yesterday. She’s scrubbing at the floor with determination.

This reminds me of the orders she gave me. I place my books on the floor so that I can use the hand sanitizer and avoid another assault of sanitisation from her.

Once I’ve done that, I quietly make my way over to my room. I’ve decided not to engage with her for the moment.

I’ve had enough interesting encounters for one day.

I slip into my room without her noticing me and start to line the books up on next to the single book already on my shelf.

That makes the room look a little better.

I use my pager to check in and then flop down on my bed to consider the day’s events.

It’s been busy and I’ve met quite a few people. The student council and disciplinary committee have their oddities and a weird relationship between them. I hope I can avoid getting dragged into it. Meeting Hiraku has done me some good as well.

I don’t think I’m ready to be as open as he is or as accepting of what has happened, but his speech does make it seem like there might be a light at the end of the tunnel.

I choose one of my new books to read for the evening. I completed my day’s goal. It isn’t much, but at least I achieved it.

Tomorrow, I should spend some more time looking into what the clubs have on offer.

---

< Previous Chapter - Next Chapter >

Open Fields

I don’t know if I’m ready for today as I haven’t really recovered from the mental strain of yesterday’s activities.

It doesn’t help that I’ve been up for some time to finish the work I forgot to do yesterday. There had been so many distractions, that it just slipped my mind.

I’m still busy on it when Cho and Nanami arrive, and they don’t disturb me.

Mutou is late which allows me to finish the work just in time.

Who was it that decided to have first period on Wednesdays be science?

Giichi comes in late as well. He must have been doing something before school and decided to wait out the crowds.

He nods to me as our eyes meet.

That’s an interesting turn of events.

I nod back.

When it’s time to split into groups again the proverbial walls close in as two desks scrape towards mine.

The trio are back together it seems.

“I’m glad you chose us for the group work,” Nanami says with a huge smile.

Yes. That’s exactly what I did.

“How did you manage to get in Giichi’s good books?” Cho asks.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

I’m not sure what they’re trying to say, and I try to pretend that nothing happed earlier.

“You greeted each other,” Nanami continued. “There are people in this class that he hasn’t acknowledged since he first started here and he’s being friendly to you on your third day.”

They considered that friendly? I suppose it is if he’s ignored some of his classmates for over two years. That gives me a strange sense of pride.

I explain what happened yesterday and they nod in unison.

“That makes sense.”

It’s Cho’s turn to take over the conversation.

“With him, it’s like you need a letter of introduction. Someone lets you into the circle and then, once they’ve given you a thumbs up, he’ll approve of you as well.”

“But I hardly did anything.”

“You helped the rest of the committee with work, didn’t you?” Nanami asks.

“Yes?”

“Then you’re in their good books. I would have left as soon as I got the chance,” Cho admits.

“There’s no one in this class to be the middleman and, since he’s the class rep. as well, there’s no official reason for him to deal with us. It can all go through the teachers.”

Does he really have to make things that difficult? For someone so focused on correct procedure, there’s an awful lot of red tape in dealing with him.

Thinking about it like that, his behaviour makes much more sense. He’ll make a great addition to the bureaucratic machines that make everything so difficult for us common people.

“So, will you join the disciplinary committee?” Nanami asks hopefully.

“What! Why would I do that?” I nearly shout.

Nanami looks crestfallen.

“You’d be our classes’ inside girl. We could finally open inroads into dealing with our class rep. in person. Though Nanami just wants the chance to finally talk to him.” Cho adds this last part on with an evil grin.

“That’s not true!” Nanami is not able to keep her voice down the way I did. Her cheeks have also gone bright red. “I don’t want to talk to him any more than you do.” She adds with a pout.

That’s an interesting turn of events. One I definitely did not see coming.

I turn to Cho for an explanation. It is her turn to talk anyway.

“I was just as confused as you when I found out,” she says with a shrug. “It’s something to do with how he’s able to get almost anything done if puts his mind to it. He put up a pretty big fight to get some of the school’s policies changed last year, and it really moved her. I suppose he’s also not the worst person to look at either.”

Mutou clears his throat, and we all jump. He’s apparently had enough of our discussion, so we get back to the work.

---

The day carries on without any more excitement.

Lunch goes by, but we don’t pick up where we left off. Nanami is too embarrassed, and it looked as if she was likely to run away had we continued with that conversation.

When the final bell rings, I’m not sure where to go. I wanted to check out some more clubs, but I’m not really sure where to find them.

“How can I find out where to see more of the school’s clubs,” I ask Cho and Nanami.

“You could ask the Student Council. They should know all about that.”

“Nanami, I’d rather not go back there so soon,” I tell her. “Is there any other way?”

“I suppose I could introduce you to track,” Cho offers. “You don’t need to do anything. Just come alone and see if you might enjoy it.”

“Yes, you should go with her. I’d take you to band, but I don’t think that would really help you. If you want, I could introduce you to the art club on the way. I know a lot of people there.”

I weigh up my options. Go it alone or take them up on one of their offers.

I don’t really see the sense in wandering alone and I’m not really much of an artist, so there’s only one choice.

“I’ll come to track with you,” I say, turning to Cho. “But you better not try and make me run.”

“Great,” she says. “Let’s get going. I’ll need to get changed before we head over.”

---

As we make our way towards the changing rooms, a voice calls out.

“Hey! Wait up!”

Charging towards us is a tiny, blonde bolt of lightning. She’s from our class. I think her name was Emi?

“Want to head down together?” she says, addressing Cho.

“Emi, where are your manners? Can’t you see we have a guest.”

Emi looks at me.

“Hatsumi? We haven’t met yet. I’m Emi!”

Cho’s reprimand doesn’t seem to worry the girl. She’s just as energetic as before.

“Hi Emi. You’re heading to track as well?”

“Yeah, can’t miss a day of training or I’ll lose my edge over the others.”

“Emi’s the fastest thing on no legs,” Cho says.

Emi laughs. “That’s me. Are you joining us? I can show you the ropes.”

She’s full of energy and looks ready to throw herself into my recruitment.

“Hatsumi will just be observing today so that she can get a feel for the club. Don’t scare her away. Like you did at the start of the year.”

I raise my eyebrow at this.

“She can be very energetic and forceful in getting people to do their best. I think we lost some of the new recruits because they couldn’t keep up.”

“That wasn’t my fault,” Emi responds. She pouts and looks at us with remarkably convincing puppy dog eyes.

Even if she was responsible for it, I wouldn’t be able to hold it against her with that face.

We make it to the change rooms, and I decide to wait outside for them. It might be crowded, and I don’t want to get in their way.

The two girls emerge a few minutes later and I notice that Emi has changed her legs. The somewhat realistic legs are gone, replaced by black bladelike legs.

I’ve seen them on TV a few times. They’re meant to be good for running. Emi really must be serious about this.

“Well, I’m going to head off to start warming up,” she says. “I hope we hang out again at some point. Maybe lunch?”

She’s off before I can reply. Her warmup starting before she reaches the track.

“I should probably get going too,” Cho says. “Head over to the stands. You can watch from there and maybe they’ll be some people to give you a few tips.”

I guess that is the best thing to do. I can’t stay with Cho unless I plan to run with her.

Heading over to the stand, I see that they really are very large. I wouldn’t want to fall from the top row.

There’s no one here yet, so I sit down on the lowest bench and watch what the students are doing.

There are a lot of them, and they seem to group up according to distance rather than age.

The warmup starts with a lap of the field before they begin stretching. Once that’s done, they begin the session properly. Emi looks like she’s a sprinter which makes sense. ‘Fastest thing on no legs’ and all.

Cho looks like she does middle distance races. It’s slower than Emi, obviously, but I don’t think I would be able to keep that pace up for long.

Maybe I’m not as fit as I thought I was.

Which group would I be in? I know I don’t have the speed for sprinting, and it looks like I don’t have the stamina for longer distance running. I look around, hoping to see any sign of fatigue among the runners.

I watch them on the track. Some are sprinting in short bursts while others take steady laps of the field.

As a group of them are about to pass by, a girl breaks off and begins to walk over to me.

She’s much darker than any of the other students and long brown hair.

How doesn’t that annoy her when she’s running?

I also notice that her left arm ends in a bandaged stump.

“Whatcha doing?” She calls out.

Very casual.

“Just watching,” I reply.

“I see that,” she says, rolling her eyes. “But why?”

“Cho suggested I come down and see what goes on at track. Get me to join if I like it.”

“And? Do you?” She asks.

“I’m not sure I have what it takes to keep up with any of you.”

She sits down next to me with a sigh. “Don’t think like that. You gotta approach it differently. They’ve been training for months, even years,” she says, waving in the general direction of all the runners. "Start off small, get bigger.”

“Was that your approach?” I ask her.

She shrugs. “Something like that. I just like it out here and the running knocks you out quick when you get back to your dorm.

It seems this girl doesn’t share Emi’s passion for running but rather sees it as a means to an end.

“So, are you tired enough now? Don’t you want to get back on the track?”

“Na, I’m not really feeling it today and you seem like a far more interesting distraction,” she says with a wolfish grin. “What’s your story?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why you here? What do you want out of this?” She pauses for a moment and looks me up and down. “Who are you?”

“I’m Hatsumi Nakano.” I say, pausing to think of what to say next.

“And I’m Miki Miura. I’m going to need a bit more than that.”

She really is inquisitive.

“Well, I transferred in this week,” I explain, “and I’m trying to find where I fit in.”

“Oh yeah. I heard that our class wasn’t the only one to get a transfer,” she says, piecing things together. “And stop trying to fit in. That’s boring. Be your own person and do what you want to.”

I guess she’s following her own advice, ignoring club activities.

As another group of students come towards us, Miki jumps up and shouts, “Iwao, get over here.

I jump in surprise.

A boy breaks off from the group. He has very short brown hair. Does he shave his head? I notice that he’s in a similar situation to Miki. He’s missing his left hand as well. The only difference is that his arms come to an end just below the elbow rather than at the wrist.

“What’s up, Miki,” he responds, slightly out of breath.

“Come meet the new girl, Hatsumi,” she responds.

Iwao takes a moment to catch his breath before walking over to the two of us.

“Hey Hatsumi, how are things going so far?”

Seems like he’s just as casual as Miki. I can see why she singled him out.

“I’m okay,” I say deciding that I might as well try to be as casual as the two of them. “Things have been very busy though.”

“That’s better than it being boring though,” he responds.

I guess he’s right about that?

“Wanna go to the cafeteria?” Miki asks, “I want to get something to eat.”

“You can go,” I say, “I’m supposed to be researching the track club.”

“We can tell you all about it,” Iwao interrupts. “You don’t need to be here for that. They’re just going to keep running in circles for some time.”

I suppose that he’s right about that. I won’t see anything new. I don’t just want to leave without Cho though.

I look out across the track and see her in the distance, coming round towards us.

“Just give me a moment,” I say to the pair as I get up and move closer to the track.

As she comes past, I wave at her. I can see that she notices me.

“I’m heading off with these two,” I call out as she runs past.

I think I see her nod her head in acknowledgement.

I turn around and see them already up and waiting to leave. I hurry back and we head off towards the cafeteria.

“So how did you get to know Cho?” Iwao asks.

I explain what happened on my first day and Miki nods, trying to look sagely.

“That’s Kubo for you. I don’t know how he does it, and I don’t think anyone can really get in his head, but he’s got a nose for creating the perfect scenarios. He was involved in getting me and Suzu together,” Miki says.

It looks like Kubo has more involvement in students’ lives than I thought.

“Wait, I know that name.” I say, thinking about what Miki was saying.

“Suzu?”

“Yeah, I ran into her yesterday. There was a collapsing pillow fort.”

“You know. I’m not even going to ask,” Miki says, “but that does sound Suzu-like.”

She laughs at this.

“Well, I hope I get him for my final year,” Iwao interrupts our Suzu reminiscence, “the other Maths teacher isn’t nearly as interesting as yours.”

“Won’t happen, you’re stuck with her now,” Miki says, apparently shooting down Iwao’s hopes for a less conventional Maths teacher.

He looks crestfallen.

“You could have him as your homeroom teacher next year,” I try to console him.

“No, I’m class 2-3. I’ll be getting Mutou.”

“Oh god,” Miki groans. “Don’t bring Mutou up.”

Apparently, Mutou is not very high up on Miki’s list of teachers. I can see why. He seems capable of draining the energy out of anyone who gets too close. Miki and her carefree attitude must struggle at dealing with him.

---

We reach the cafeteria and head over to the serving counter. There aren’t that many students here at the moment.

They must all be busy with their clubs. I’ve had time to familiarize myself with the menu since the first day, but what Miki and Iwao order is not on them.

“Is there a secret menu that I don’t know about?” I ask the two of them.

“No,” Miki responds. “But if it isn’t too busy, they don’t mind making custom orders. Within reason of course.”

I’ll have to think about coming here at more unusual times from now on. I see why they were so ready to ditch the club. The menu is nice and all, but it does miss some of the things that they don’t have up on the menu.

Once the food is ready, we head over to a table by the window.

“So, you came to see the track club,” Iwao brings the conversation back to the issue of clubs. “Do you actually want to join? Or are you just humouring your friend?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t think it’s my kind of thing, but I should be doing something to keep me occupied.”

“Having lunch with random students can do that too,” Miki suggests playfully. “You can even get them to take you out and pay for the whole thing if you’re lucky.”

“Don’t fall for her tricks,” Iwao adds to that. “She’s a con artist. I don’t know how many students have been tricked into paying for her lunch.”

I have to admire Miki’s guts. I’m not sure I have what it takes to swindle people like that.

“They love my company and are willing to pay for it,” is Miki’s only response to that accusation.

“Track can be fun.” Again, Iwao is the one to drag the conversation back on course. “But it isn’t for everyone. There has to be some love for it, no matter how small.”

He stares at Miki when he says this, and she shrugs.

“If you say so,” she responds.

I guess she doesn’t like to be open about some things.

“Well then, what are your ideas. Someone mentioned the art club.”

“No!” They say in unison.

That’s emphatic.

Miki explains this one.

“Nomiya, the art teacher, can seem nice at first, but he doesn’t really have time for you if you aren’t good at it. He’s not going to chase you away, but you’ll probably be treated badly. Succeed or give up. He doesn't have any middle ground.”

That doesn’t sound pleasant.

I’ve tried to draw when I was younger, but it never went anywhere. Nanami may be friends with some of the students there, but I don’t really feel like finding out whether what Miki says is true.

“We could go see the swim club,” Iwao suggests. “They aren’t nearly as strict and should still be practicing.”

“You just want to see the girls in swimsuits,” Miki teases, while poking him in the ribs.

“Not at all, I’m trying to help a fellow student.”

He sounds sincere, but he won’t look at me. Maybe there’s some truth to Miki’s accusation.

“Well, you two can do that if you like,” Miki says. “I need to get going. Work needs doing and I don’t want to get in trouble tomorrow.”

Miki jumps up as soon as she’s finished talking and heads off towards the door waving back at us as she does.

“So, you want to go meet the swim club?” Iwao asks, a bit more hesitantly now that were alone.

I guess he’s taking the job of being my guide seriously.

“Sure,” I say.

We make our way outside and see that Miki is long gone.

“She acts like she’s still at practice,” I say, more to myself than anything else.

“You do need to keep an eye on her,” Iwao agrees. “You never know what could happen next when she’s around.”

That was true. Here I am, on my way to the pool with a boy I just met when all I was trying to do was check out the track club. All because Miki decided that she needed to do something about the lone girl sitting in the stands. I wonder if she had any other plans for the two of us?

I shake that thought off. Don’t be stupid. She was just being a good schoolmate.

“How about you fill me in on the swimming club?” I decide to ask. “How much do you know.”

“They’re really quite flexible with how they do things,” he explains. “You don’t even have to join, and you can still make use of the pool. Though I suppose they can’t exactly stop you if it’s for medical reasons. As for what they do, it’s mostly just laps of the pool. Whatever stoke you want to work on, at whatever speed you can go. Some people compete while others just do it for fun. The coach doesn’t mind.”

“Sounds like you know a lot about how they run things,” I say. “Why don’t you join them instead of tack?”

“Well, for the first, I know a few of the members. So, we chat about these things. As for the second, I’m simply better at running. I like being good at what I do.”

He’s competitive then?

“How good are you?” I ask.

“Best in my year,” he says smiling proudly. “I can even give Emi a run for her money, but she'll usually beat me.”

“And Miki?” I ask.

“I’ll usually beat her if we’re at practice, but we don’t race together so I can’t really say.”

“She’d beat your ass,” I joke.

“Hey, don’t side with her just because you met her first,” he complains back.

We reach the auxiliary building and head inside. The nurse must be busy because I don’t see him anywhere.

Iwao leads the way, and we soon arrive at the swim room. It must be nice having an indoor pool as it’s probably heated. Being able to avoid that first freezing plunge must be nice.

Iwao opens the door and gestures for me to go ahead of him. Another gentleman I see. I step inside and am immediately hit by the smell of chlorine and the sounds of splashing.

The room is large. Not quite as big as the cafeteria, but still impressive. The walls are pale and wide windows up near the roof provide plenty of natural light. Dark tiles at the bottom of the pool as well as the lane dividers are a visible and physical guide for the students in the pool.

I see a ladder in the far corner and what looks like some sort of seat elevator opposite it. That must be for those who'd struggle to use the ladder. A hot tub at the back of the room is a surprising addition to it all. There’s a teacher standing at the side of the pool, she has long brown hair and is wearing a tracksuit. A student hangs off one of the lane dividers and listens as the teacher explains what she wants him to do.

All the other lanes are filled with students swimming back and forth. A few lanes have several students in them. They are going much slower than those that have a lane to themselves and stick to the sides of their lane to avoid each other and occasionally grip on to the edge.

Iwao was right about there being many levels of ability here.

“Let’s head over to the bench over there,” he says pointing to the opposite side of the room. “Watch while we wait for them to wrap up. There’s someone I’d like you to meet when their done.”

We head around to the bench and Iwao and the teacher acknowledge each other with a nod of the head when she notices him. I guess they know each other from somewhere?

The bench is made of plastic and has several small holes all along its surface. Probably to allow it to drain when swimmers sit there.

“As you can see, we have a diverse bunch here. You don’t need all your limbs to swim, or your sight for that matter.”

“What did you say?” I turn to him in shock.

“See the guy in the in the second lane over?”

I nod. From what I can see, he looks fit and is moving at pace.

“He’s blind. See the pads at each end of the pool?”

I can make out something attached there. The look like square pieces of foam.

“Those are for when he misjudges the distance left. Help to stop him splitting his head open. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes distractions can mess things up.”

If what Iwao is saying is true, I’m amazed. The boy is by far the best swimmer there. I watch as he approaches the end of the pool. To me it looks like he’s about to hit the wall but, at the last moment, he dives down, spins and pushes off the wall before continuing towards the other end of the pool. That was impressive, even if he wasn’t blind. I could never get the hang of that manoeuvre.

Some time passes and the lesson comes to an end. We watch as the students make their way out of the pool and into the changing rooms. Some simply jump out of the pool, while others have to use the assistance provided.

The blind student is not one of those. He easily gets out of the pool and is handed a plastic cane by the teacher. Everyone disappears from sight, and we wait a few minutes.

“So, who are we here for?” I ask.

“Here he comes. The sightless sealion. Hiraku!”

That last part catches the boy’s attention.

“Hi, Iwao. You came by.” The boy responds.

The sightless sealion? What kind of nickname is that?

What a minute. “Hiraku?!” I shout.

“Is that you… Hatsumi?” Hiraku responds.

“You’re in the swim club as well?” I’m still shocked by the reveal.

“Have the two of you met already?” It’s now Iwao’s turn to look confused.

“Hatsumi helped me with cleaning up the games club room yesterday when she got lost looking for the library. It really was a great help.”
He’s just as polite as before.

“And yes, I am in both clubs. The games club meets on Tuesday and Thursday which allows me to swim on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.”
He has quite the busy schedule it seems.

“So how did you get a hold of Hatsumi and why did you bring her here?” Hiraku is the only one among us who doesn’t seem at least a little confused by the situation we’re in.

What isn’t he ready to deal with?

“Miki charged me with introducing her to the swim club.” Iwao explains. “I didn’t realise she already knew a member,” he continued, turning to me.

“Don’t look at me like that. How was I to know?”

“Would that have been Miki Miura?” Hiraku asks.

So, he really does seem to know everyone, and he can already recognize me from just my voice.

“Yeah,” Iwao responds.

“You really do get around Hatsumi,” Hiraku says. “Maybe I have a new rival.”

Rival in what? Does he keep track of how many people everyone knows?

“Well. Why don’t we get out of here,” he continues. “I wouldn’t mind some fresh air after all this chlorine.”

With that he heads towards the door, and we have to follow or watch him leave without us.

As he gets there, Hiraku stops at one of the lockers and, opening it up carefully, he retrieves his wooden cane and replaces it with the plastic one. He must not have wanted it to get to wet.

After that we head out into the corridor, his steady tapping acting as a guide to all of us.

“I wouldn’t mind spending some time out in the school grounds. Would the two of you be willing to join me?” He asks as he continues onwards.
“Sure thing.” Iwao answers.

“Why not,” I say as well.

---

Hiraku leads us through the school grounds. We head past Rin, who seems to be working on some sort of mural. I’m not sure what I make of it as I can’t really tell what it’s supposed to be.

Just up the stairs, he leads us off the path and over to a massive tree. Upon reaching it he begins to settle down with his back against the truck.
“I really do love it here,” he sighs, contentedly.

I look down at him. Not entirely sure what he’s going on about.

“Come on you two. Join me,” he says patting the ground on either side.

Iwao and I look at each other. He shrugs and sits down on Hiraku’s left.

I join them as well.

“Just take all of it in,” he continues. “The wind rustling through the trees. The smell of fallen leaves. The patches of sun that reach us through the branches.”

I notice that he says nothing about the sights, but that makes sense.

Maybe I can feel what he feels.

I close my eyes and try to block out my thoughts, only focusing on what’s around us.

It’s nice. After the rush that everything has been up until this point. I haven’t had a moment where something isn’t happening, or where some new person isn’t getting involved. I should try this more often.

I’m about to say something when I hear arguing nearby.

I look up and see two students getting up in each other’s faces. The one is big, not like Toru though. The other has a bandage wrapped around his head. For some reason he has a beret as well.

I can’t really tell what they’re arguing about, but the larger boy seems to have had enough of it and turns to leave.

The other boy isn’t done yet though.

It looks like he’s about hit him in the back of the head!

I’m about to shout a warning when another girl comes running out of nowhere and punches the boy hard enough to knock his beret off.

“Shit,” Iwao exclaims, jumping to his feet.

“What happened?” Hiraku is instantly alert.

“A girl just punched someone,” I say, also struggling to my feet.

“Oh dear,” he says, reaching for his cane. “This could get very ugly.”

“It looks like it’s already over,” I say.

The boy’s run away, and the other is leaving with the group she was with.

Hiraku shakes his head. “Maybe the fight’s over, but Yamaku is very strict about that kind of thing. The disciplinary committee and the teachers will come down hard on this. You two saw what happened. They’ll want to talk to you.”

I gulp.

Great. A moment of peace and now I’m thrown into this. It looks like getting dragged back towards those three on the committee.

“We should stay here,” Iwao says. “I don’t know if that boy is running for a teacher but, if he is, we should wait here for a while. He definitely saw us, and I’d rather not annoy them by making them look for us to find out what we saw.

He’s probably right. The three of us head over to the stairway and wait.

---

It wasn’t long before Mutou showed up to find us. That boy must have immediately run off to get him.

Mutou, for once, seemed to have a bit of energy in him and a determined look on his face.

“You saw what happened?” He asked.

“Yes sir,” Hiraku said. “They both saw the exchange.” He's taken the lead in this, which I was grateful for. I don’t relish the idea of getting involved in disciplinary matters.

Mutou nods to himself. “Come with me then,” he says, turning towards the auxiliary building.

The three of us follow him in silence. We get some looks of pity from a few students as we pass them. It must look like we’re the ones in trouble.

As we reach the disciplinary council room, I see the beret boy sitting outside. He looks sullen and is trying to cover the side of his face.

Mutou knocks on the closed door. It opens a few moments later and I’m greeted by Rei, looking much more serious that when we last met.

“Sorry we have to meet like this so soon,” she says, after seeing me. “Please come in.”

The four of us head inside and see Giichi and Toru already sitting at the table. I notice that there are no extra seats set out for us.

“Mutou,” Giichi says as the science teacher follows us in. “Thank you for that. You can go now.”

I turn to look at Mutou and see that he is unhappy about that request.

“You know how this school’s procedures work,” Giichi continues. “We will look into this matter first. You can then look at the conclusions we reach. If you have any issues with them, we can then discuss them.”

Giichi really does have an intimidating aura. I felt some of it when I was swept along with their work yesterday, but it’s much more intense now and even seems to affect Mutou.

“Fine,” the teacher sighs. “Please let me know what you get out of this quickly. And don’t take any sides either.”

This addition seems to infuriate Giichi as his face goes white with anger. I even take a step back. He looks like he’s about to kill someone.

“That won’t happen,” he says coldly.

Mutou nods and, sensing the tension that is developing in the room, leaves.

Giichi looks to us now and smiles.

I wish he didn’t. That smile isn’t right. There’s only anger in his face.

“So, the three of you were there when Ritsu Tainaka hit Takashi Maeda?”

The three of us nod. It seems that even Hiraku would rather stay silent when faced with the scathing tone of the disciplinary committee chairman.

“Good, I’ve already spoken to Maeda and he’s given me his side of the story. When someone can find Tainaka, we’ll hear from her. So, is it true that she attacked him without provocation?”

“No!” I say with some anger of my own. Of course that boy is trying to get away with what he did. “She was defending someone else.”

“Oh?” Giichii replies.

“Yeah, he was about to hit this fat kid in the back when she stepped in,” Iwao continues.

Ouch. Not the nicest description, but I suppose it works.

“That would be Taro Arai,” Rei interjects, sliding a file over to Giichi.

That isn’t concerning at all. I know they said that I was on their radar as the new student, but the small pile of files sitting in front of Rei makes it seem like they know a lot more about all of us then I would like.

“So, Arai and Maeda where in an argument before this happened. What next?”

“The argument was over. Arai was just leaving when Maeda tried to punch him,” I say. “It was only then that Tainaka hit him.

Giichi nods as he examines the file in front of him.

“That does make a bit more sense than Maeda’s own story,” Giichi says softly. “Toru, please see these three out and ask Maeda to rejoin us. I’d like to see if he’d like to change his story before this goes any further.”

That was very quick. Toru stand up and gestures towards the door. As he heads over to the door he turns to us, “Thank you for that, it’s good that you were able to catch the whole thing.”

He steps out into the corridor and looks down at the hunched-up Maeda. “The disciplinary committee would like another word,” he says, towering over the boy.

It honestly looks more terrifying than if it were any of the teachers. The two of them head inside and Toru closes the door, leaving us standing out in the corridor unsure of our next move.

“Let’s find somewhere to sit down again,” Hiraku suggests. “I’m sure we could all use a moment to get our heads together after what just happened.

That sounded like a good idea. I’m sure he would have some wise words to put the whole thing into perspective.

Once again, he leads the way, but this time he avoids the tree where we saw it all happen. He leads us back to the main building and up the stairs. I guess we’re heading to the games club room.

Once there, he motions for us to settle in before doing the same.

“There aren’t that many events like this at Yamaku,” he begins once we’re all sitting down. “Most students know not to get involved in fights. It can be especially dangerous for some of the more fragile students.

I can see how that might be true. You wouldn’t want to hit someone only to find out you’ve put them in hospital. Then the police would probably end up getting involved.

“But the disciplinary committee has a lot more power that I thought they would,” I say. “Mutou almost seemed scared of them. Should they really have that much say in these matters?”

I think back to the disciplinary committee I had before coming here. They were really just a ceremonial figurehead used as a front for the school to hand out punishments.

“Yamaku wants to give students a place to grow. Sometimes that means students end up with a lot of responsibilities,” Hiraku explains.

“I prefer it this way,” interrupts Iwao. “They actually care about the students they have to punish.”

There seem to be some bitter memories under the surface there.

“Yes,” continues Hiraku. “They do take an interest in finding out what actually happened. The last chairman didn’t really care about that. He just left it to the school board.”

“If he was still in charge she would be expelled,” says Iwao.

“That’s a little harsh,” I respond.

“Any acts of violence will result in immediate suspension and, on further investigation, should the action be found to affect any pre-existing conditions, expulsion of the student at fault is the only course of action.”

It sounds like Iwao was quoting something he knew well.

Maeda did have bandages covering his head so a punch to the face would probably have met those requirements, I realize.

“Giichi is the one who fought for that line in the disciplinary codebook to be modified,” Hiraku adds. “I believe there was a lot of tension when that was going on. The school board doesn’t like changes. There were even rumours that legal action was what finally got them to budge.”

My eyes widen. That was extreme. I know Giichi’s father is a lawyer, but it looks like Giichi has the same ambitions. He also must be able to draw on his father’s resources if what Hiraku says is true.

“I think that’s enough drama and school intrigue for me. I’m heading back to the dorms.”

Hiraku nods. Iwao looks a bit disappointed.

“Shall I walk you back?” He asks.

“Let the lady have her space,” Hiraku responds before I can answer.

I wonder what that is about?

“See you two some time,” I say.

It might be a while before we cross paths. Then again, with the way I’m getting myself involved in so much these past few days, I could see them again very soon.

“Fine,” Iwao says, dragging it out. “See you again Hatsumi.”

With that I head out into the corridor and set out towards the dorm rooms.

Maybe I can spend some time in front of the TV if there’s anything interesting on?

---

I get back to the dorm common room and look around. There’s no sign of the Tainaka girl. They did say she was missing. Maybe she was on the run?

A few couches around the TV are unoccupied and a game show is on. It’s not too interesting, but it might get a few laughs out of me.

I’m sitting there, not really focused on what’s in front of me when a voice calls out.

“So, you managed to get away,” it says.

I turn to look over my shoulder and am greeted with an unusual, yet completely expected sight.

It’s Miki with her sleepy friend Suzu draped over her shoulder.

“Scootch over,” she says as she swings Suzu around. I barely have enough time to get out of the way as she flops down into the middle of the sofa.

The sudden jolt wakes her up for a moment.

“Hello, hero,” is all I hear before she’s asleep again, tilting over against my shoulder.

“She must like you,” Miki says as she flops down onto the sofa as well. “Saving her life and now acting as a pillow. You’ll soon be part of her league of superheroes.”

I look at her in confusion.

“She gives her friends superhero names. It won’t be long before you join the magnificent Stumpfist on her crime fighting adventures.” Miki says this while holding her stump high in the air.

“She calls you that?” I ask hesitantly.

“Not really,’’ Miki responds. “Well, she doesn’t mean to anyway. She talks a lot in her sleep. Don’t ever let her know that almost everyone knows what their superhero names are. She’ll die of embarrassment.”

That’s nice of her. I suppose Suzu can’t help it anyway so it wouldn’t really do anything but embarrass her to fill her in on how much everyone really knows.

“Never mind Suzu. How was your date with Iwao.”

“It was not a date!” I respond.

Suzu stirs.

“You went off with a boy for the afternoon, so he could give you a private tour of his hangouts,” Miki responds.

“Take me on your date,” Suzu mumbles.

“See, Suzu agrees,” Miki responds triumphantly.

“It was not a date,” I say emphatically. "We were joined by someone else soon anyway. So, it couldn’t have been a date.”

“You wanted it to be though,” Miki continues teasingly.

“No, I didn’t. I just wanted to see the swim club and what they had to offer.”

“Suit yourself,” Miki says. “How was that?”

“I didn’t expect to run into Hiraku there.”

‘Ah, the swimming sage,” Miki says, nodding. “Another nice guy. So, you hung out with two hot guys instead of one.”

What was up with all these titles people were giving him? And Miki’s insistence on me getting together with someone?

I know how to deflect this conversation.

“Yeah, we were together when we saw Maeda and Tainaka get into a fight.”

“You saw what?” All the fun was gone from her voice now.

I feel bad about weaponizing the event, but it had gotten her off my back.

“Yeah, there was an argument and Tainaka hit him right across the face. The disciplinary committee already questioned us about it."

“Damn, they’re in my class. I need to get Suzu back to her room and go find out more,” she says hurriedly, already pulling Suzu to her feet.

“See you soon,” she calls back as she hauls the sleeping girl away. It sounded like she’ll be coming to find me when she knew more.

---

< Previous Chapter - Next Chapter >

Court is in session

I wake up to banging at the door.

It sounds as if someone is trying to kick it down.

“Coming,” I call out as loud as I can in my groggy state.

They don’t seem to have heard me.

I look over at the clock and see that it’s only 5:30.

What the hell?

Dragging myself out of bed, I lurch over to the door and pull it open to quiet the noise. It’s probably woken the entire corridor.

Standing there is Rei. She looks almost manic, as if she hasn’t got much sleep. I almost get a swift kick to the shin.

I can see that she has a file under her arm but why can’t she knock like a normal person?

“What do you want?” I manage to say, still coming out of the deep sleep I had been in.

“I’m glad you’re awake,” she blurts out.

Does she not see the state that I’m in?

“Listen, we’ve been up all night trying to put an end this case.”

She must be talking about the fight yesterday.

“We need the signature of a witness to confirm that the statement we’ve put together is correct. Since you’re new, we feel that you’d be the most impartial observer. Once we have that, we can submit this report and hopefully put an end to all of this.”

Rei must now be able to see the state that I’m in because she pauses her rapid speech.

“I’ll give you five minutes,” she says a bit more slowly. “Meet me in the common room. I’ll have coffee ready.”

It looked like she’d had more than enough coffee but, before I can say anything, she spins around and heads offs. For some reason she seems to be struggling to walk properly.

I stand there trying to process what had just happened before heading inside to throw something on. I’m going to look like that too if things don’t slow down soon.

---

When I make it downstairs, I see Rei hunched over at one of the tables with two cups of coffee standing in front of her. One of them is nearly finished.

“Ah, Hatsumi. There you are,” she says.

It looks like she’s about to jump to her feet, but just manages to hold herself in place.

“Here,” she says, thrusting a clipboard out towards me. “Read this, and if you agree please sign at the end.”

“Can you explain what it is first,” I say trying to bring her back down from wherever she is right now.

Rei looks at me with bloodshot eyes. “Hatsumi,” she begins. “I’d love to, but that report needs to be submitted in less than an hour and I need sleep. Please just confirm that what’s in that thing is accurate. I’ll explain later. Once I can think straight.”

Now she does jump to her feet and begins pacing around the table. There’s definitely something off with her, besides the obvious stress.

“Fine, fine,” I say. “Give it to me.”

I take the clipboard and begin to read through the document. It’s a very thorough breakdown of what happened, it’s causes, and how the committee wants to deal with the situation. It all looks very official, and I can’t spot any issues with it. Overall, it’s a fair judgement of the entire thing.

There’s a pen at the top which I use to fill in what Rei wanted from me.

No sooner have I completed that; she grabs it out of my hands.

“Thanks,” is all she says before rushing off towards the door, leaving me standing there in the empty common room.

I sit down in one of the chairs and stare up at the ceiling. I’m not much of a coffee person and I don’t know if I have the energy to get back upstairs.

I check in on my pager now, just in case I fall asleep while trying to muster the strength to get up.

---

I’m suddenly shaken awake, and I sit bolt upright.

“You been here all night?” Miki asks.

I look at her for a moment. I’m not as tired as before but I could still do with a bit more sleep.

“Rei woke me up early this morning. What time is it?”

“7:30ish,” Miki responds.

Good thing I checked in earlier.

“So, they came back for more did they?” Miki asks. “I tried to find out what was going on, but no-ones talking. Do you know what’s going to happen?”

“Something about suspension. Don’t know how long. It didn’t say.”

‘That’s a relief,” Miki sighs. “I like Taro and I wouldn’t want that trio broken up now. They really liven things up.”

“Good for them,” I say with a groan. “Wish I could’ve been left out of it though.”

“It sucks,” Miki admits. “But trust me, having things sorted out quickly is a wonderful thing. You must hate all the waiting around, just like the rest of us.”

That was a sobering thought. I remember all the tests and checkups I went through to get my diagnosis. So much waiting, so much uncertainty. I really did hate it.

Maybe she’s right. I wouldn’t want to wait around to learn my fate either.

“How well do you know Rei?” I ask.

“Not very,” Miki responds. “Why?”

“There was something off about her this morning. Besides the lack of sleep and the manic behaviour. She looked like she couldn’t even walk properly.”

“Yes,” Miki said slowly. “That’s not for me to talk about though. If you really want to know, ask her yourself. After this morning she’ll owe you an explanation.”

So, Miki did know something. It must have something to do with her being at Yamuku if Miki won’t talk. It must be bad as well considering how open she normally is.

“I’ll think about it,” I respond.

“You do that. You should also go get ready. There might be a lot of students who want to hear what you have to say.”

Great, another day of hell then.

---

I arrive at class just in time to beat the bell. Everything looks normal for the moment.

I guess word hasn’t gotten out to most of the students yet. I’m one of the few who knows about the troubles going on behind the scenes.

Giichi is already in class, though I can’t say that he’s really all there. Still propped bolt-upright, his head hanging back, fast asleep. I suppose Rei wouldn’t have been the only one struggling through the night.

Class goes by without any incident and as the bell rings, I turn to Cho.

“Is there anywhere to go to avoid everyone at lunch?” I query.

She raises an eyebrow.

“Please don’t,” I say. “I’m sure you’ll hear all about it at lunch, but I don’t need any of it.”

Before Cho can say anything, a voice speaks up next to us.

“Do you want to come have lunch with us on the roof?” Emi asks.

I turn to her tiredly. “Do you promise not to ask about it?”

I’ll gladly go with her if she says yes.

“I don’t even know what it is you want to avoid so I can probably do that.”

She looks so happy all the time, but I’ll grab at any straw to get away from the questions that will probably be coming from class 3-3 students in the cafeteria.

“Lead the way,” I say, leaving a puzzled Cho and Nanami behind.

I notice Rin following, but don’t mind. She doesn’t seem to be the nosy type.

---

Emi leads us out onto the school roof. I’m sure we’re not supposed to be up here, but I don’t care. It' s quiet and nobody was likely to find us.

I notice that Emi was carrying a few bento boxes and how I have nothing to eat. The peace was worth the trade-off. It's quiet up here and the view of the school grounds is magnificent.

“You look like you’ve had a rough time,” Emi says as she settles down and opens up her bento boxes. “Want a rice ball?”

“Thank you,” I say reaching out to take the offered food.

“How rough is time?”

I stare at Rin, baffled.

“Can it be smoothed out?”

I’m still just as confused.

“Sure, it can,” Emi responds, “but it’s going to get rough again if you don’t work on it.”

Rin nods apparently satisfied by Emi’s answer.

She pulls off her shoe and somehow manages to get a set of chopsticks held correctly between her toes. She then reaches over to the open food and begins to eat.

It must take some skill and I watch the whole process with fascination.

“What do you want to talk about then, besides this mystery topic?” Emi asks.

I think for a moment. “How about what there is to do in town? I haven’t got the chance to leave the school grounds yet.

“It a nice place,” Emi says. “All sorts of things to keep you occupied during your free time. This weekend might not be good though, with the festival on Sunday, the whole place will be a lot busier than normal.”

“So, I just transferred in at the worst possible time,” I ask.

“You could say that if you wanted to,” Emi responds. “I think your lucky. You get a big celebration at the end of your first week. Some happy memories to mark the occasion.”

I suppose that could be nice as long things have calmed down by then.

“What kind of things normally happen at the festival?” I ask.

“Well, its mostly food and carnival games. There are a few exhibits as well,” Emi says, looking up into the sky. “How’s your art piece coming alone Rin?”

“Art is art.”

I can’t argue with her reply.

“And what is there to do in town?” I ask, trying to guide the conversation back on track. “What do you like to do around here?”

“There are a few nice cafes to visit for a light snack,” Emi says. “Though they can be a bit of a hit-or-miss. Sometimes the staff aren’t the friendliest. There’s a karaoke place as well, but you need to book ahead of time, since they don’t open without any bookings.”

Karaoke with Ritsuko and the others had always been fun. Maybe I can get a couple of people to head over there some time?

“There’s also a bookstore somewhere in town. I saw how much you’ve been reading between lessons so that might be something you’re into. Not sure where it is though so maybe you could ask one of the book club members.”

That’s a nice suggestion from Emi. I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on some more recent books that can’t be found in the library.

“Now I have to try,” Emi says, and I look at her with suspicion. “Don’t you want to join us at track. I’m trying to convince the other new guy to join, but I think it’s a losing battle. He’s more interested in swimming. Or at least one of the swimmers.” She pouts and I raise an eyebrow.

What’s this?

“Who’s stolen him away from you?’’ I ask.

Emi can sense the hidden meaning behind the question. Rin stares at me blankly.

“It’s not like that,” Emi says, sighing. To me it seems exactly like that.

“He wants the exercise, but also… Doesn’t. I can see it in him that he’s trying to do better, but something is there to hold him back at every turn.”

Maybe I need to reevaluate my view of Emi. She seemed like a jack-in-the-box, exercise addict, but she's concerned about the new guy.

“I worry that he might just give it all up if someone can’t help him out of whatever slump he’s in.”

“You should hook him up with Hiraku,” I suggest. “He seems to know his way around these things.”

“Don’t you dare!” Emi hisses. It’s more of a squeal. “I’m losing Hisao to the pool and now you as well. Those swim heads are out to destroy my track team.”

Emi seemed incredibly passionate about this rivalry that I was sure only exists in her head, but I wasn’t going to try and talk her down about her imagined enemies.

“I don’t think I’m really that into the whole idea of the swim club,” I say. It’s partly true and partly just a way to prevent Emi from getting more riled up.

“You’ll join me for a run tomorrow then?” She asks.

“I’ll need to get a few good nights of sleep before even I think about that, Emi,” I respond.

“Fair enough,” she responds just as the bell rings.

“Run Hatsumi,” Rin interjects slowly.

I stare at her as I try to decipher what that might mean. Does she want me to join Emi or flee from her?

Emi shrugs as I turn to her. I guess she doesn’t know either.

The two of us pack up Emi’s remaining lunch before joining Rin by the door and heading back down to class.

When we get there, I see that Giichi is at least conscious again, though it looks like that's due to the flask of what I can only assume to be coffee sitting on his desk.

I take my place between Cho and Nanami just as Miyagi enters the room to begin her English lesson. There won’t be any time for talking until after school.

---

I can tell that my two neighbours want to quiz me on what they must have learnt at lunch, but luckily Kubo calls me over to his desk.

Once again, I'm confused by what I see. He seems to look happy, but I’m certain that the conversation he wants to have is not a pleasant one.

“I understand you saw what happened,” he begins.

I don’t respond.

“Well, I’m sorry it happened so soon after you joined us. That’s not what this school is meant to be about. We want to help you recover, not bring about more harm.”

Kubo seems off through all of this. I think I understand why the conversation is so subdued. He’s been told to talk to me about it. I’m sure all of class 3-3 went through a similar thing this morning.

“Don’t think that was a common occurrence. We take all of our student’s health and wellbeing very seriously.”

“I know sir,” I say. “That wasn’t the school’s fault. There were personal things that led up to that fight.”

“I’m glad you say that,” Kubo responds, “but it doesn’t change the fact that we should have done more. Talk to someone if you ever feel that there’s a problem. Don’t let it get to that point.”

“Yes sir.”

“Good.”

Some of his usual energy has returned.

“Now go do whatever it is that you girls had planned,” he says, nodding towards the door.

I turn and see that Cho and Nanami are there, waiting for me. Well, I guess I can’t avoid them forever. Maybe it won’t be so bad after my peaceful lunch.

“You saw Tainaka and Maeda fighting, didn’t you?” Nanami asks as I reach them.

“How about we head somewhere nice for tea and, if you treat me, I might tell you about it,” I say. Might as well take Emi’s advice and try to get something out if it like Miki would.

The two girls look at each other, apparently able to communicate telepathically, before turning to me and simultaneously saying, “High Tea.”

---

As we leave the school grounds and head down the hill towards town, the two girls keep their word and hold off on any questions. The last time I came along here was by car. It seems much longer and steeper now that we’re on foot.

There is a bus stop at the gate, but we had just missed the bus and would have to wait some time for it to return.

Once we make it into the town, Cho takes the lead. She does seem like the one who would be better with directions, and it looks like we'll need it as we twist and turn our way through a maze of narrow roads lined with houses and odd little shops.

At one point we pass by what looks to be an antique curios shop. I make a note to stop by there on the way back. It might be nice to find something to give my room a little life.

Finally, we arrived at our destination. Between all the houses was a surprisingly large courtyard with an iron gate and fence. This one was nothing like Yamaku’s though and was far more of a decorative piece than an actual security measure. The metal work was filled with intricate patterns of forests and wildlife.

Above the gate in a fancy script are the words “High Tea.” It’s in English.

We head into the courtyard and it’s a completely different world to the tiny, dense streets we took to get here.

There’s a water fountain in the middle of the courtyard. The sound of tumbling water is oddly soothing. Around it are several trees providing natural shade to the tables dotted below them. There are umbrellas as well, but they aren’t needed at the moment.

On the other side of the courtyard is a small room that looks like a serving area filled with lots of cakes, muffins, and several other delicious things that I do not recognise. The whole place looks very foreign, which makes sense considering the name.

A few tables are occupied. It’s mostly older women.

“What is this place,” I ask, marvelling at how peaceful it seems to be.

“I found it in one day when I qas wandering around looking for the perfect hangout.” Cho says.

“It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before. You don’t have to worry about anyone else finding it either,” Namami adds. “It our secret hangout.”

“You’ll have to show me how to find it on my own,” I say, looking around some more at the welcoming environment.

“All in good time,” Cho says with a serene smile. “Let’s order something so we can have a nice chat while we snack.”

We head across the courtyard and into the serving area. Behind the counter, is a young woman busy preparing a pot of tea.

“Afternoon Cho. Namami. Who’s your new friend?” She apparently knows the two of them.

“Hi Eiko,” Nanami greets her with enthusiasm.

“Good afternoon Eiko, this is Hatsumi. She’s just transferred in, and we thought she might like to come by and visit.”

“Welcome to High Tea” Eiko says, turning to me. “I hope these two are treating you right and that you enjoy your time here. What can I get the three of you?”

“Have you got anything new in recently?” Nanami asks.

“Of course I do,” Eiko responds. “This came in over the weekend.”

She holds up as small tin of what I assume must be tea leaves. I can’t read whatever it says as its in a very stylized English script. The design is cute though. A little girl and a rabbit are sharing a pot of tea.

“It’s a strong tea, but still easy to drink. The pot will disappear in no time.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Cho says. “We’d love to try it.”

It seems as if these three share a passion for trying new teas when the chance arises. I suppose a nice tea can have a calming effect, but I’ve never quite got into it the way some people can. A cup of tea is just a cup of tea.

I sound like Rin thinking like that.

“Wonderful,” says Eiko with a huge smile. “And what would you like with that?”

“What do you want Hatsumi?” Nanami is looking up at me excitedly. She seems to want some say in this matter.

“What do you think I should get?” I ask her.

“Let’s get three different slices of cake,” Cho answers. “Then we can all have some of each.”

“Fine by me.” Why not have three different cakes?

“Eiko,” Cho says, turning back to her. “Please choose three slices that you think would work well with the tea.”

“Of course,” she responds. “Have a seat and I’ll bring it out in no time.”

We step out back into the courtyard and look around for a place to sit. Nanami point to an unoccupied table in the corner, and we head over to it.
We sit down and the inevitable question finally drops.

“So, what happened in the fight.” Nanami is the one who brings it up.

The walk here and the peaceful environment have done wonders for me so I’m not as annoyed by having to return to this topic as I thought I would be.

“It wasn’t a fight. Maeda was about to hit someone and Tainaka stepped in. He ran away after the first punch.

Both girls look disappointed by this. Were they expecting a brawl?

“That is disappointing,” Cho says, confirming my suspicions. “We thought we could get the juicy details out of you first by sneaking you away before anyone else got the chance.”

That they willingly admit their motives in bringing me here is even more scary.

The conversation is interrupted by Eiko arriving with our order. She walks over carrying a large tray in one hand. She moves around the table setting a cup and saucer down in front of each of us. The foreign influence showing through. She then places the pot and three slices of cake in the middle of the table. They seem to be chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.

“Thank you Eiko,” Nanami chirps.

“I do hope you enjoy,” she says, withdrawing from the table.

Cho begins to pour the tea for us while Nanami handles the cake. She really is trying to ensure that everyone gets the exact same amount of each.
“So how is your hunt for a club to join going,” Cho asks me.

I sigh. “Things seem to take an unusual turn whenever I try looking for a club. It might be safer to quit before any more weird things happen.”

“Don’t give up,” Nanami says almost pleadingly. “It’s not your fault that tensions are running high. I think the school festival has everyone a bit on edge. Maybe you could get involved in helping prepare for the festival rather than looking at clubs. That could be a good way to get involved without too big a commitment.”

That could be a good idea. Getting involved in something to occupy myself and having the possibility of it all calming down once the week is over.

I discover that Eiko was right about the tea when I take a sip. The flavour is intense, but just light enough that I want another sip. Am I about to start my journey down the path of a tea connoisseur?

No, I shake off those thoughts.

“You could also do us all a favour and join the disciplinary committee. That would make things easier for the rest of us.” Cho brings that up again.

“Please don’t suggest that again. I’m scared of those three after what has just happened," I reply

“How come? I think they handled the whole thing quite well,” Nanami says.

“You weren’t involved,” I say with a bit of hostility. It’s not really directed at her though. “Rei seemed to be falling apart after staying up the whole night to fix whatever it was that they needed to fix. Giichi might haunt my nightmares for a while. He looked like he wanted to kill Mutou when he suggested the possibility of bias. Mutou’s quick exit made it seem like he felt the same.”

“Giichi wouldn’t do that to a teacher,” Cho says hesitantly looking over at Nanami, who doesn’t look to happy with my judgement of Giichi.

“No,” I admit, “But I can definitley see Toru doing it for him. He could probably rip someone in two… How is a first year that big anyway?”

I finally have to voice my question.

“He should be out in a forest chopping down trees, not in a high school for kids with disabilities.”

“He seems nice, even if he looks scary,” Nanami says, apparently glad to change the topic. “But don’t expect to find him out in any forests. He has terrible allergies. We often see him wearing a face mask when it gets windy.”

I don’t say anything, but that seems like such a mundane issue for someone like him to have.

“So, his size has nothing to do with him being here?”

“Not as far as we know,” Cho responds. “He’s foreign and I think his parents are also tall. He’s just a big guy.”

We all go silent for a while, enjoying the tea and cake. They do work well together. Each has its own way of combing its flavour with the lovely tea.

Once we’re done, Eiko returns to clear the table.

“And how did you enjoy that?” She asks.

“It was great Eiko,” Nanami answers. “Make sure you keep some of the tea just for us.”

She just laughs softly at this before heading off with our dishes.

“Shall we get going?” Cho asks the two of us.

“Sure,” I say. “There was a little antique shop that I’d like to stop at though. You think we can find it on the way?”

“Of course, we can,” says Nanami. “This place isn’t that confusing. We were just trying to lose any tails.”

Apparently, they really don’t want to share this place. It makes me feel special that they decided to bring me along.

---

We soon arrive at the little shop and head inside.

At the counter is an old man who ignores us as we take in the store’s contents. The place is full of all sorts of oddities. Shelves reaching up to the ceiling piled high with far too much on each of them to be safe.

Walking along, I see a table of porcelain dolls. The craftsmanship is wonderful, but I’ve never liked the idea of their lifeless eyes staring down at me from a shelf. Further in, I come across a set of model trains and then a section of second-hand clothes. Most of them look as if they went out of fashion several decades ago.

Cho and Nanami are off looking at what I think is a stand full of jewellery as I head off to the very back of the store. The wall is full of books. Not the standard paperbacks that you find in the library though.

These books have fine leather covers with detailed designs covering their spines. I reach out to one that looks especially beautiful. It has a faded green cover and silver writing.

Turning it around I see that the pages are a dark yellow. There is also quite a bit of dust on the top of it. It’s as if the book has been abandoned here. Lost to the world. It’s a copy of ‘To the Spring Equinox and Beyond’. I read it a few years ago and was fascinated by the story.

It’s fitting, if a bit scary, that I come across it now as I can see myself reflected in its main character. Someone who’s life has undergone a recent change and is now looking for something to do. I can even see the peculiar supporting characters reflected in the students I’ve met so far.

I decide it best to leave it where I find it as I probably couldn’t afford it anyway. I’m also not sure I want to risk my own story following that of Keitaro’s. Too much death and too many scandals.

I head back over to Cho and Nanami who seem to have picked out a pair of necklaces. Hanging from the silver chain on each is one half of the Yin and Yang symbol. It’s cliché, but somehow works for the two of them.

“What do you think?” Cho asks. “Holding hers up for me to look at.”

“They’ll look wonderful on the two of you,” I respond.

“I think so to,” says Nanami. “Let’s go pay.”

I notice that the man behind the counter is now watching us as we head over to pay.

He says nothing as he inputs something into the old cash register sitting in front of him and the price of the necklaces pop up on the display.

Cho and Nanami only have just enough money after paying for tea, but they don’t seem to mind as they hand over the money.

The old man grunts before going back to whatever it is he was doing before we arrived. I can’t see behind the counter, but he might have been reading something back there.

We head out into the street where Cho first puts Nanami’s necklace around her neck. I suppose she would have trouble opening the ting clasp and getting it around her neck with only one hand. She apparently doesn’t need my help to get her own on as she easily gets it around her neck.

The three of us then set off back towards the school. I realize the journey is not nearly as complicated as I had thought it was. We cut down an alley and emerge onto the main road that takes us all the way back to Yamaku.

They apparently had not been joking about trying to lose any tails.

---

When we arrive back at Yamaku, we head through the grounds towards the dorm rooms. As we reach the dorms and head inside, I see Rei is sitting on one of the chairs facing towards us.

When she sees me, she jumps to her feet and starts heading our way.

“Hey Hatsumi,” she calls as she closes in. Cho and Nanami slip by her and head for the stairs. For all the interest the two of them have shown in the disciplinary committee, they really are good at avoiding them.

“Are you feeling better?” I inquire.

She does seem to have improved since this morning. There are still dark bags under her slightly bloodshot eyes, but other than that she’s doing okay. The limp is almost completely gone.

“Yeah, I slept most on the morning away,” she says.

I would probably have done the same in her position.

“Then I went to look for you. Couldn’t find you anywhere, so I decided to wait for you to get back.”

“Why,” I ask.

“I wanted to apologize and explain some stuff, if you’d let me.” She looked at me hopefully.

“Sure,” I say. I’d feel bad turning her down when she’s like this.

“Great,” she said smiling. “How about we go for a walk in the forest.

Now it was my turn to smile.

“I’d love that.”

---

Once more, I was following someone through the school grounds. Destination mostly unknown.

We made our way down to the track field and across to the far side. As we reached the fence, I saw there was a small hole in it.

Like the roof at lunch, I’m sure we aren’t meant to be doing this but, like the roof, I don’t really care. It'll be good to get out into the forest beyond.

Although there hadn’t been many trees back home in the city, I always loved spending time in the forest when we went to see grandma. It was always sad when we had to go home, and I would often try to hide in the forest for a few hours longer.

The trees here weren’t quite the same. Not as dense or as dark, but the sounds and the smell were just the same.

Rei leads me along a path in silence. She seems to enjoy the walk just as much as I did.

Or maybe she was just lost in thought like I had been. Maybe we’re quite similar when it comes to things like that.

It might be nice to make this a regular thing.

That would depend on what she had to tell me though. She had seemed pretty serious when she asked me to join her on this walk so whatever it is she had to say affect things between us.

We made our way up a winding path that eventually leads to a clearing with a massive tree at it’s centre. Its size meant that there was still plenty of shade despite the lack of other trees around it.

It must have been a popular site as there were several benches and bins dotted around the clearing as well as another pathway that probably led back to town.

“Come on, let’s have a seat of there,” Rei says pointing to a bench directly under the massive tree.”

I follow and take a seat next to her.

“Firstly, I want to apologize for this morning,” she begins. “I was… out of sorts and it probably wasn’t the nicest experience for you.”

“I..,” I’m about to respond, but Rei continues.

“No, don’t say that it was alright,” she says with some force. “It wasn’t. You shouldn’t have had to deal with that. Especially when you’re so new around here. Hell, even if you weren’t, it still shouldn’t have been your problem. We just have a lot of things on our plate.”

I have some idea of how much stress she was under from her duties for the disciplinary committee, but it felt like there was something more coming.

“You’re new to all of this. I could see it when we first met. Not just the school, but everything else as well… New to the disabilities. You haven’t had time to process any of it.”

She falls silent, apparently giving me some time to think about what she’s said.

Had it been that obvious?

She was right of course. The school was one thing, but I only found out about my epilepsy less than two weeks ago. Everything had been such a flurry of activity since then that I hadn’t really had time to process it.

“Do you want to talk about it?” She asks gently, looking down at the ground.

“I… I’m not sure what to say,” I respond hesitantly.

Rei looks up at me. She stares into my eyes, and I can see the hesitation and fear in her own.

“I’m going to do this,” she says quietly, as if she’s trying to psych herself up.

“Hatsumi, I think you’re a lot like me, so I’m going to be honest with you. I could have used this back when everything went wrong.”
I nod.

“It all sucks,” she says. “Life can be so hard even when things are good. Once you find out that you’re different. That you don’t work properly. You feel like you don’t belong anywhere. That you’re a freak”

That’s a harsh way of putting it, but she’s right. It didn’t feel the same when I was saying goodbye to my school friends. I was different. Even Ritsuko felt off. It felt like I lost her once she found out.

“I have Peripheral Arterial Disease,” Rei says flatly. “My heart struggles to get blood to my limbs. It started when I was very young, and nobody picked up on it a long time. They thought I exercised too much, that I had the flu. Anything that might explain the pain in my limbs. The meds help me from getting any worse now, but by the time the doctors figured out what it was, it was too late.”

Rei bends down and pulled up the leg of one of her trousers, then the other. Her legs were a lot like Emi’s prosthetic ones, though they look more expensive, more advanced.

So that was why she wore trousers instead of a skirt, to hide what had happened to her.

“This one ends here,” she continues, tapping her right thigh. She wasn’t tapping at flesh.

“I know that you saw some odd things about me, but you were good about ignoring it. You tried not to see the weird movements. It was nice. Most people don’t try.” she says with a tight smile.

She then reaches over and taps her right arm near the shoulder. The same sound as before answers her tapping. “They cut this one off here.”

I couldn’t believe it.

Rei had lost three limbs, only her left arm was still fully intact.

“I don’t like people to know about it, so I try to hide it from them. They pity me, they try to help me, or sometimes they just stare. That brings back all the bad memories. It also makes me think about what happens next. About how it could get worse. That’s the bit I hate the most. Thinking about what could go wrong is hell.”

She’s tearing up now, so I shift closer to her and put my arm around her shoulder.

It just feels like the right thing to do even if we don't really know each other.

“I think you worry about the future too,’’ she continues. “It could get worse for you too, couldn’t it?”

I nod.

I don’t really think I can say anything at the moment.

Rei seems to have gone through so much more than me, but I’ve felt those things. I don’t know whether that’s fair or not. I’ve faced so much less than her.

Am I allowed to feel the same way as she does?

“Some people can never understand what it’s like to have your normal life taken away from you. Even the other students. Some of them have gone through hell, but it’s all over for them. Some others don’t know a different life. Just because you’ve got a disability doesn’t mean you’re always living in fear. Teachers and therapists can try to help, but they know the least about it.”

Tears start to form in my eyes as well.

“Find someone who’s gone through it,” she continues. “Not so that they can understand you. They won’t. They’ll remind you not to give up. I’ve tried to find that person, but it hasn’t worked out. They just can’t see how small and how grey the world can be.”

She sees it too.

She knows what it’s like to feel this way.

Like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel.

I hug her tight, the edges of her prosthetic arm digging into me, but I don’t care.

She saw someone in the same place she is, and she knew what I needed to hear. That no amount of advice or guidance will help unless you want to keep moving forward.

You need to accept what life has dealt you before you move forward. You need to see that it is possible to move forward.

“It’s epilepsy,” I say. “It’s not that dangerous yet, but it could get worse.”

I pause for a moment.

“It will probably get worse,” I add.

It’s a relief to finally say that. To tell someone about it and know that they aren’t going to try and sugarcoat it.

“That’s it,” Rei responds, resting her head on my shoulder. “That’s all you need to say if you want to, but I’ll listen to whatever else there is.”
I’m not sure I need to say anymore at the moment. Just admitting the situation has taken an immense weight off of my shoulders. Knowing that someone will listen is enough for the moment.

I rest my own head on hers and just enjoy the moment as I wonder if some of weight Rei’s carrying might have lifted as well.

---

We sit there for a long time. Rei fell asleep at some point, but I don’t try to wake her. She needs the sleep after all that’s happened.

I use the time to think about the advice I’ve been given over the past few days. None of them had felt complete. They had given me the puzzle pieces, but I didn’t know what to do with the.

Rei has handed me the picture.

That doesn’t mean that the others haven’t been helpful. I just didn’t know where I was supposed to begin. In that way her advice has been the most impactful of them all. Maybe it’s the lack of sleep that let her say all of this. She doesn’t seem like the kind of person who opens up easily.

Whatever it is that led to this, it helps to think that I shouldn’t be looking for a way to avoid my epilepsy.

I’ve been looking for something that will distract me from the problems I have. It hasn’t worked because this isn’t something I can avoid. It’s something I need to learn to live with. Something I need to accept as a part of me. It’s where I need to start again from.

It may be something negative, but it’s a part my life now. If I come to terms with that, it might get a bit easier.

Though doing so may be difficult. Rei has clearly struggled with it. She’s struggled with it for a long time. There was so much pain behind those words.

Eventually, as the sun began to set, I decided that we needed to get going.

Gently shaking Rei, I managed to pull her out of her slumber.

“What?” she mumbled as she slowly came to, before realizing where she was and flailing her way to her feet.

She seems a bit stunned by her surroundings.

Had she really been in that bad a state?

“Thank you for showing me this place,” I say, giving her time to gather here thoughts. “I really enjoyed it.”

“You’re welcome,” she responds, still a bit out of sorts. “I’m glad we talked.”

It seemed to be coming back to her.

We head back down through the forest in silence as there isn’t really anything to say at that moment.

Passing Rin and her artwork, I'm still not sure what she's painting for her exhibit, but I', not going to try and figure that out now.

When we reach the dorm rooms, Rei stops in the doorway.

“Listen, I’ve got to go finish some paperwork,” she says abruptly. “Today was a nice timeout, but now I need to go catch up on some stuff.”

“Okay,” I respond. “Just don’t push yourself as hard as you did last night.”

“That was a one-off thing. I won’t be trying that again for some time,” she says, the lilt back in her voice.

She seemed to be back to her regular theatrical self now.

With that she steps forward and gave me a quick one-armed hug before turning and setting off at the rapid pace that I expect after having seen what she's capable of.

---

< Previous Chapter - Next Chapter >

Preparations

When I wake up everything feels a lot better than before. The good night’s sleep as well as the pleasant afternoon of yesterday has helped wash away much of the stress and fatigue that has built up.

Despite the early start today, I feel full of energy.

Rather than lying in bed waiting for time to pass me by, I decide that I might as well see what the school is like before everyone else gets going.

Heading to the bathroom I bump into Chiharu.

Well, I don’t bump into her. That would be impossible as she’s pressed into the far corner of the room, with objects strategically placed around her to prevent others from getting too close without knocking them over.

“Morning, Chiharu,” I say. “How’s it going?”

She eyes me suspiciously, as if she’s trying to figure out whether I might do anything to her. This fear seems to dissipate as she realizes that I’m here for shower.

“Hello, Hatsumi,” She responds. “It’s good to see that you’re so serious about personal hygiene.”

I decided that it was probably best not to ruin her belief in what I was doing. All I really wanted was some cool water that would help freshen me up for the day, but I decide to spend a bit more time in the shower than I intended to so that Chiharu will be happy with my efforts.

Once I’ve dried off and stepped out of the shower, I see that she’s cleared up her blockade and left the room. I guess I don’t have to put on an act for her anymore.

After heading back to my room and gathering everything that I’ll need for the day, I make my way downstairs. There are a few students that are up before me. I suppose I'm not the only early bird.

Heading out into the school grounds, I see that the sun is only just peeking up over the horizon.

It might be nice to watch it rise.

The stands by the track field will probably offer a great view.

I make my way there and, once again, see that I’m not the first person here. Two figures make their way around the field. The one has excellent form and is moving at speed.

Even though she’s on the opposite side of the field, I can tell that it’s Emi. She really does take running seriously to be up practicing this early on top of the club practice she already has.

I can’t really make out the second figure from this distance, but I can see that they're really struggling with it as they jog along at a much slower pace than Emi.

Emi passes by first and waves, hardly slowing down at all in the process.

When the other figure finally gets closer, I see that it’s the other transfer student. He’s clearly out of breath and is struggling to maintain the speed he’s jogging at. It’s not much faster than a walk.

He passes by, too tired to even notice anyone is sitting there, and, a few moments later, the jog turns into a walk.

It looks like he’s giving up as he heads off the track and disappears from sight.

Emi gives him a worried look but continues to do a few more laps before heading over to me.

“Morning,” she calls. “You thinking about joining me?”

“Just here to watch the sunrise,” I respond, looking out at the long shadows stretching towards us as the sun slowly creeps up from the horizon.

Emi shrugs. “A girl can hope,” she says making her way up the stands to join me.

“It doesn’t look like your recruitment programme is working,” I say thinking back to what she said the day before.

“No,” She responds. “I just don’t think his heart is in it. That or there are too many other things on his mind.”

“Well, you can’t win every battle,” I say, trying to console Emi on what she clearly sees as a defeat. “I still think you’ve got plenty of good runners on the team.”

“Sure we do, but it was never really about that,” Emi explains. “Running is good for you. It helps the mind and the body. You need to keep active, and running is such an easy way to do that.”

“I’m sure he’ll find his place in the school. Give it some time. It’s only his fifth day here and I’m sure he’s on his way to finding his place.

I’ve probably been just as lost as him, but things seem to be working out.”

I think back on how busy I’ve been and how many people have tried to make me feel welcome.

“Don’t beat yourself up that you aren’t the one who can be there for him,” I say.

“When did you get so wise about all of this,” Emi says eyeing me suspiciously. “You’re supposed to be the new girl.”

“I’ve had some interesting encounters,” I respond jokingly. “You grow up fast when you see the things I’ve seen."

That gets a laugh out of Emi.

“Well, I’m going to get changed,” she says. Meet me at the cafeteria for breakfast?”

“Sure thing,” I respond.

---

I slowly make my way to breakfast.

There’s no need to rush with Emi still needing to change. Then again, the speed she gets around at might negate the head start that I have. That thought does encourage me to get things moving.

When I arrive at the cafeteria, there are a lot more students up and about. I look around and see that there's only a single unoccupied table.

I could grab it, but I don't want to take a table away from a larger group.

Can I at least find someone I know to share with?

Walking through the middle of the hall, I finally see what I’m looking for.

A familiar face.

“Hey Iwao,” I say walking up the boy sitting alone at one of the tables.

He looks up in surprise at being called out. He must have been very absorbed in his miso and rice.

“Hatsumi,” he responds. “Joining us for breakfast?”

“I was looking for somewhere to sit,” I say. “I hope you don’t mind if Emi joins us though. She’ll be on her way now.”

“Sure, you can. The more company the better.”

“I’ll be back in a second,” I say, before heading over to the food counter.

Looking at what’s on offer I decide to grab the same as Iwao before heading back to our table.

Sitting down, Iwao starts up the conversation again. “So, you’ve decided dive into the deep end of running. Up with Emi before dawn?”

“Absolutely not,” I reply emphatically. “I was just up early enjoying the sunrise and ran into Emi on the way.”

“Good one,” Iwao chuckles. “Well as long as you get out and about, I think that counts as exercise.”

With that charitable outlook on exercise, I’ve had more than my fill of it for the week.

“Well, do you get enough then?” I ask Iwao.

“Exercise?” He responds. “I like to think so. Track is fun and I try to get out into the town over the weekend if school hasn’t loaded us with too much.”

“What will you do with the festival on this weekend?" I ask. "Will you be running a stall?”

“Yeah, our class is doing something,” he says. “But there are enough of us that no-one has too long a shift. I’ll probably be able to slip away.”

“Don’t want to enjoy the festivities?” I inquire. “Surely there’s a lot to do. They schedule that I saw looked packed.”

“I don’t know,” he says. “I went last year, and my final year will be the big one, so I thought I’d just slip away and skip as much of the chaos as possible.”

I suppose that would be nice in a way. Maybe he wasn’t really used to the crowds. It wasn’t something that everyone could enjoy.

“I think I’d like to at least see some of what it has to offer. I won’t get another chance at it.”

“Chance at what?” Emi chirped from behind me.

I nearly leapt out of my skin at that while Iwao burst out laughing at my reaction. The traitor must have seen her coming and decided to say nothing!

“Sorry about that,” Emi said as she continued past us towards the serving counter.

“You could have warned me,” I say to Iwao, shooting daggers at him.

“Of course I couldn’t,” he replies quickly. “Would you stand against the star of the track team. I’d be kicked to the curb if she felt I was trying to topple her reign.”

His voice was dripping in sarcasm as he painted this picture of a tiny tyrant and her cruel oppression of all those who joined the track club.

“Don’t you dare!” Emi squeaks tapping Iwao on the head with her spoon. It’s my turn to burst out laughing as the poor boy nearly leaps out of his skin. “I won’t have you slandering my good name.”

“You deserved that,” I manage to say as I get over his reaction.

“You really should have seen that one coming Iwao,” Emi adds sitting down with us.

Not only did she have a huge omelette with her, but a pile of toast. It was a lot of food, but I guess she does seem to eat a lot, and all of this will hopefully fill her up. “Would a tyrant be having breakfast with the two of you?

“I suppose not,” he admits begrudgingly.

“So, what are we talking about?” She says turning to me.

“The festival,” I reply.

“I can’t wait for all of the food stalls,” she says excitedly. “There are also a bunch of games and prizes to win.”

I shouldn’t have expected any other answer. The food and the competitions are what she’s into. Why would I have thought anything else?

“You aren’t looking forward to anything else?” I ask.

“Well, there is Rin’s painting. I’d like to see that once it’s finished,” she says. “The band could be fun too. They don’t perform that often.”

“You know what Rin’s painting is meant to be?” I ask.

I still haven’t been able to make any sense of the mural.

“Nope,” Emi says brightly. “I don’t need to though. If she’s happy with it, then I’ll be happy. That’s what friends do.”

Emi really was a wonderful girl. So energetic and supportive of everyone around her.

I wonder if Rin knows how lucky she is. Not many other people seem to have the patience for her oddities.

“I’ll probably be heading to the arcade, or maybe karaoke if I can put together enough people.” Iwao interrupts. “Have a good time out on the town while everyone’s focused on the festival.”

“That could be fun too,” Emi says excitedly. “Let me know if it’s going to happen. I might skip the festival if it’s for karaoke. But we’d have to be back for the fireworks though.”

“I’m sure we can work something out,” Iwao says. “Hatsumi, how about you?”

What did I want to do? I didn’t really have any plans for Sunday, but that could change, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to commit to anything yet.

“I think I’m in the same boat as Emi,” I say. “I’ll let you know once I figure out what the festival has to offer.”

That seemed to put a dampener on Iwao’s mood, but he quickly bounces back. I suppose I get why. He’s sort of been told that he’s the backup plan by the first two people he’s asked.

“Sure thing,” he says.

By now we’ve all finished our breakfast. Somehow Emi was able to wolf hers down faster than I thought possible.

“It’s almost time to get to class,” she says, jumping up and gathering her things. “We should get going.

The two of us also began clearing the table before gathering our bags.

“See you two again,” Iwao says.

“See you,” Emi and I respond in unison before heading off to class.

---

Emi and I make it to class as the bell rings, so there isn’t any time for chatting. I notice that there are a number of students missing from the class.

That Giichi is one of them doesn’t escape my attention. I guess that there’s probably a lot of frantic planning going on for the festival and that he and the others are preoccupied with that.

Cho and Nanami, however, are here.

That means my day is sure to stay interesting. When we’re given some exercises to keep us busy and told that we can do them groups I know exactly what’s about to happen.

Right on cue the two desks scrape into place and the duo sandwich me in place, ready to begin their interrogation.

So, the disciplinary committee got a hold of you.” Cho says. “What did they do to you so late into the evening?”

“Are you already in trouble?” Nanami adds.

“It’s nothing like that,” I say. “Rei just wanted to apologize for all the trouble they’d gotten me involved in. She was very nice about it. We went for a walk up into the forest.”

“Really,” Cho asks, surprised. “That’s nice of her. You must be something special, worming your way into the hearts of that trio.”

“What are you talking about,” I ask. “I’m not doing anything special, am I?”

“Of course you are!” Nanami says excitedly. “Do you know how removed that committee is from the rest of us. Giichi is uninterested in anything but procedure, Rei doesn’t let anyone in, and the old chairman just didn’t care about anything. Toru joining this year was the only way to get past the walls surrounding that Committee, and it’s still scary to go up to him.”

The two of them kept bringing up how much of a problem the Disciplinary Committee seemed to be. Could they really be this bad? The teachers would have done something by now.

I say that, but seeing the hold Giichi apparently has over the teachers might explain that.

“How does anything get done then?" I ask. "Surely, they aren’t doing their jobs then?"

“It does work, most of the time.” Cho says. “It’s just complicated. Let them find out about something and you can be sure that they’ll come down on it like a ton of bricks. With a few exceptions, everyone on that committee seems to have an intense hatred of wrongdoing.”

That was a rather terrifying way to put it, but I could see what she meant. They did seem to go a bit crazy when things were done wrong or when rules were broken.

“What are you girls doing this weekend?” I ask wanting to get away from talking about those fanatics. Cho and Nanami always seemed to know about what interesting things were going on. I’m sure they had some good suggestions.

“Nanami’s got a solo during the band performance,” Cho says. “You have to be there for that.”

The excitement on Nanami’s face when Cho mentioned her solo was so obvious that I couldn’t possibly disappoint her.

“Unless I’m taken hostage by some shady individuals, I'll definitely be there,” I reply. That response seemed to please Nanami.

“That’s one of the last things in the day though. I can’t wait to see all the stalls,” Nanami said. “I want to try and catch one of those fish again. I always mess it up somehow.”

She must be talking about those paper nets that always break if you aren’t careful enough. I’m not surprised that the energetic Nanami struggles with that.

“My favourite part of it all is watching the fireworks fill the night sky to close out the night. It’s even better if you’ve got someone to share it with," Cho says. Don’t you agree Hatsumi?” Cho say calmly, with a serene smile.

There’s a spark of light in her eyes as she says this and I’m not exactly sure how to respond.

Nanami jumps in almost straight away. “Cho, this isn’t a romance novel. Besides, you’ll need someone to share it with before you start concocting these grand plans.”

“I suppose you’re right,” she responds with a light chuckle. “And I think the teacher’s also run out of patience for our chatting.”

I look over and see that we are indeed drawing unwanted attention, so the three of use suddenly find our language worksheets very interesting. I’d always been good at Japanese, whether it was grammar or literature, so I was the one taking the lead on this worksheet for once.

The three of us waded through the work we were given as best we could, but it seemed that the teachers just wanted to keep us busy today. Each lesson was just more and more worksheets that would give the teachers a short break.

It was only at lunch that we were able to get a break of our own.

Happy to get away from all that work, the three of us headed out into the corridor and towards the cafeteria.

“I thought those worksheets would never stop coming, did you?” Cho said.

“They wanted us dead,” I responded in commiseration.

As we reached the stairway, a voice called out.

“Is that your voice Hatsumi?” Someone calls out.

We turn to see Hiraku coming up behind us.

“Hi Hiraku, you really do have good ears,” I say still impressed by his ability to pick someone out that well.

“Ah, Good Afternoon. I’m so glad to have found you,” he said, as polite as ever. “You wouldn’t happen to have plans later, would you?”

“No,” I respond. “Is there something you need.”

“Your help would be greatly appreciated,” he began to explain. “Our class is running a bit late with its preparations and, as you can imagine, we’re a bit short staffed on people who can see what needs to be done to the stands. If you could help us, the class and I would be forever in your debt.

“Don’t say it like that,” I answer.

It would be hard for them to design and build a stall. How many people in class 3-2 had any vision at all?

“I’d love to help," I continue. "What do you need from me?”

“Thank you,” he said, smiling. “If you could come over to 3-2 after class. You’ll quickly find plenty of areas where your abilities are desperately needed. Now don’t let me keep you.”

As he left, I could see what Cho and Nanami were about to say.

“Not one word,” I get out before they can begin.

---

Class passes by without much time for anything but the endless busy work the teachers throw at us. It’s a relief when the final bell rings and we can get away from the torture.

“See you guys later,” I say to Cho and Nanami as I head for the door. They wave after me, apparently trying to contain any witty comments.

I quickly make my way down the hall towards class 3-2, since I don’t want to keep them waiting or delay the work they’re busy with.

As I slide the door open and head inside, I see students working all over the room. They’re busy retrieving supplies from tables and cupboards all over the room to lay them out on desks now that class is finished. There are paint cans and banners all over the place.

I notice that the floor is completely clear. Considering the make-up of the class, it’s a wise move to avoid any tripping hazards. It is an interesting sight watching them work. Some students do clearly have some sight as they work on painting banners. Others are working through touch alone it’s impressive how they are able measure, cut, and glue the decorations together so efficiently.

“Hello, what can I do for you?” A voice calls out. It’s familiar, yet completely different.

I turn to the girl in question. She tall, with long, blonde hair.

“Hi, I’m looking for Hiraku," I explain. "He said that you guys need some help.”

“Wonderful,” she says, a smile spreading across her face. “I’m glad his mission is proving successful. We would greatly appreciate all the help we can get.”

“You made it Hatsumi,” Hiraku says, making his way over to us. “You’re really a life saver. I hope you’re alright with me stealing her away from you Lilly?”

“Of course, you found her so it’s only fair that she helps you first,” Lilly replies.

It seemed that Lilly was running the whole operation. She was probably the class representative, but she was far more helpful and accommodating than our own. In fact, she seems a lot like Hiraku himself. Both seemed exceedingly calm and unfazed by the chaos around them. They projected an aura of composure that seemed to hold the class together.

I wonder if she has the same wise words to offer lost students as Hiraku did. She seems like that kind of person. Was it a talent that was bestowed on them? The ability to see what people thought and felt rather than what the rest of us could see?

“You better get going then, Hatsumi,” Lilly says, before heading off to check on another student working on a set of banners.”

I follow Hiraku over to a table with its own set of paints and papers and look down at what is gathered and see that there’s a menu among it.

“I was hoping that you could help us figure out the size our menus should be,” Hiraku says. “Even those of us who can see won’t be able to tell what is reasonable for the average customer to look at.”

That makes sense, it would probably have to be much bigger that is usually necessary for those with poor vision. There are a few trial versions sitting on the table. Not the most well-done signs, but they’ll serve the purpose.

“So how should we do this?” I ask Hiraku.

“There should be a mock-up store front in the corner,” he says waving in the general direction of what does indeed look a bit like a pop-up store front. “I was thinking that they could probably go up on each side somewhere around head hight?”

That might work,” I say, gathering up the mock-up menus. “Come help me out.”

I head over to the stall and Hiraku carefully follows.

“Come stand right here,” I say. “No. A bit further to your left.”

“How’s this?” Hiraku asks, now standing just to the right of the stand.

“Perfect,” I say. “Now take these.” I hold out the signs and wait until Hiraku has a good grip of them before stepping back.

“Do you think five metres will be far enough?” I ask as I make my way to across the classroom. “That should allow people standing in line to read it without having to wait until they get closer.

“That sounds perfect,” he responds. “Shall I hold one up for you?”

“Yes please,” I say. “Try holding it at around head hight.”

Hiraku does so. The sign is sideways, but that doesn’t matter. The writing is definitely too small.

“Could you try a different one and maybe hold it a bit higher?”

Hiraku carefully places the one he had just held up to one side and holds up another. This one has much larger writing, but it might be a bit too large.

I head back over to Hiraku.

“That one was close, but it’s not quite right. Let me see the rest of them.”

“Sure,” he responds handing the pile of signs over to me.

I flip through them and discard a few that I am certain won’t work. I finally settle on two that look closest to what I think will work.

“Here, could we try with these two?” I ask.

“Okay, just let me know when you’re ready.” he replies.

I head back to my spot and call for Hiraku to hold up the signs. Of the two of them, the one on the left looks better.

“Perfect,” I call out. “The one in your left hand is just what we need.”

“Good,” he responds. “Could you get rid of the rest of these? We don’t want to confuse them now that we’ve chosen something.”

I gather up the excess signs and take them over to a large bin by the door filled with off cuts and abandoned projects, before making my way back over to Hiraku who’s clearing a space on the table for us to work.

“We should have all different colours of card here to choose from,” he says as I return. “The others suggested something like blue or green for the menu. Which do you think would work better?”

My opinions on the stall design quickly seemed to be a very important aspect of what the final product was going to look like, so I had to be careful with my choice.

Looking at the card that was available, it seemes that the blue was too dark for this purpose. Unless we are going to bewriting in a very light colour, the words would get lost on it. The green however, was a nice pale one that would easily show off what was written on it.

“Let’s go with this one,” I say. “The green looks much better.”

“Very good,” Hiraku responds. “If you could start writing out the menu in pencil now, that would be very helpful. We don’t want to make any mistakes and, if we run out of time, someone else can always finish it tomorrow.”

While I work on filling out the menu, I see Hiraku is also working on the decorations. He’s cutting designs into pieces of paper that look like they will be made into string decorations. He manages to do this by using a thick card design as a guide to cut along. While it isn’t perfectly cut, you would have to look very closely see the imperfections.

“I am grateful for your help in all of this. I thought you might have been busy helping your own class," he says.

“You know. I’m not actually sure what our class is supposed to be doing for the festival,” I say. “They all seem to be doing things for their clubs. Half of them didn’t even come to class today.”

“That can happen sometimes,” he responds. “The downside of encouraging everyone to join a club is that no one will have time to do something as a class. Or maybe they just couldn’t find anything that wasn’t already being done.”

I should probably ask Cho and Nanami about that.

It’s weird that it just never came up.

“Whatever the reason is, it means that I was able to poach you for your talents. Without at least a few people not caught up in their own preparations, I don’t think we could have pulled this off,” he continues.

“Why did your class decide to run a noodle stall?” I ask. “I don’t doubt your abilities, but surely its quite dangerous to be serving hot food when you can’t see what’s happening?”

“I would normally agree with you,” he begins to say. “But for some reason the class really wanted to do this. We spent a long time trying to figure out how we could run a stall safely and eventually we figured it out. As long as we keep the classmates that have partial sight doing the things that really need them, we can actually operate the noodle stall very well.”

“If you say it can be done, then I’ll believe you,” I say.

“Thank you for the show of confidence,” Hiraku responds, smiling. “Once you’re done with that, I’d like to go check that all the necessary ingredients have arrived.”

“Sure, I’ll let you know when these are done.”

---

“I think that will do if you’re sure I can leave the rest for someone else,” I say.

“Thank you for that,” Hiraku responds. “That’s more than enough. I’d rather have you help me check if everything is ready down in the kitchens.”

Hiraku grabs his cane and makes his way over to Lilly, guided by her voice as she talks to another student.

“Lilly,” he says, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but do you have the invoice sheet on you. I’d like to go check if our order has come in correctly.”

“Hiraku. Are you sure about that. I can get someone else to handle that” she replies.

I’m not sure if she says this because she doesn’t want to load to much work onto one person or because she’s not sure if he’ll be able to handle it. From what I’ve seen of her so far, I feel that it’s probably the former.

“Don’t worry about me,” Hiraku says. “I’ll be fine. And if anything goes wrong, I’m sure Hatsumi will be able to rescue the situation. Won’t you, Hatsumi?”

I intended to go with him anyway, but it was nice to hear someone have that much faith in my abilities.

“Sure,” I say.

“That’s good to hear,” Lilly says. “Make sure that he doesn’t take advantage of you.”

She flips through the pages that were on the table next to her. They all have braille on them specifically for this class’s needs, before holding out a sheet with a list of items on it.

I step forward and take the list from her.

“Thank you, Lilly.”

“No, thank you. You really are a massive help.”

With that Lilly went back to guiding the other students in what they needed to do.

“Let’s get going,” Hiraku said. “Would you mind if I took your arm. While I can make it on my own, it would be quicker and easier if you could help guide me.”

“Of course,” I responded quickly.

I had seen him do so well on his own that I hadn’t really thought about how hard navigating the school must be for him.

I stepped in towards his stretched-out hand, which brushed against my elbow. He repositions his hand so that he’s how linked his arm through mine.

I would be embarrassed by his close proximity if this were any other scenario, but it seems to be the best way for me to act as his guide.

“Well, lead the way,” he says, his cane still in position to catch anything that might cause him issues as we walked.

“Where to?” I respond, realizing I have no idea where I’m supposed to be taking him.

“Through the cafeteria and into the kitchen,” he responds. “You’re quite lucky, you know. They normally wouldn’t let students into the kitchen but, as long as you stick with me, you’ll be able to get a look behind the scenes of our wonderful cafeteria.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea,” I respond playfully. “What if what I find puts me off cafeteria food all together.”

“Don’t worry about anything like that. They only serve the best at Yamaku and the kitchen needs to be perfect in order to do that,” he says.

“If you say so, master chef,” I reply.

It’s not long before we’re in the cafeteria. Plenty of people are here. Some to get something to eat, others to hide from other commitments. Speaking of which, there’s Iwao skipping track again.

“Are you sure you’re one of the best on the track team?” I call out as we’re about to pass by him. Hiraku comes to a sudden stop, and I’m forced too as well.

Iwao turns to us, and a look of confusion passes over his face. “Hatsumi? Hiraku? What are you to doing here together?”

Hiraku, clearly recognizing his friend’s voice responds, “Hatsumi offered to help out class 3-2 with the festival preparations. We’re just on our way to check if all the food we ordered has arrived.”

“Need any extra help?” Iwao asks.

“The more the merrier,” Hiraku says. “As long as you promise to help us for the rest of the day.”

He smiles cheekily as he adds this condition.

“You drive a hard bargain,” Iwao replies. He puts on a very good act of indecision, mostly for my benefit, I suppose, and it draws a chuckle out of me.

“I accept your proposition, but don’t I get a lovely escort as well?” He asks playfully.

I’m sure the blush that Iwao’s playful suggestion draws out of me is visible, so I try to hide it by developing an interest in seeing what’s going on behind us.

“Have you developed some condition that requires an escort since we last met?” Hiraku hits back with equal playfulness. “Unless you have, I see no reason for the need of an escort.”

“Then you clearly don’t know how much of an inconvenience a missing arm is,” Iwao responds. “I can hardly walk straight.”

“Of course, how could I forget.” The tone of Hiraku’s voice suggested he has seen the trump card to their mock argument. “By all means I will allow you to have Hatsumi’s assistance as well. I must warn you though, as I’m happy where I am, so I won’t be switching sides. You’ll need to be very good at walking backwards.”

“Damn you,” Iwao responds in mock fury. “You’ve really planned this out, haven’t you? I guess I’ll have to get there myself.”

He looks to me pleadingly.

“I think you’ll both manage from here,” I add to the conversation since I couldn’t let them have all the fun. “I’m sure you’ll both benefit from the exercise of getting there yourself.”

“Ha!” Iwao exclaims as he did a little dance of joy. “You overplayed your hand and now you’ve lost it all!”

Hiraku sighs. “It seems I have. That was an excellent play Hatsumi. We’ll make something of you yet.”

Whatever it is they had planned for me I couldn’t understand, but they seemed to be having fun with it.

“Let’s stop with all the stalling you two," I say. "There’s work that needs to be done.”

“Right away ma’am. If you’d follow me,” Iwao says with a bow and an arm held out pointing towards the kitchen which just the sound of managed to raise a chuckle out of Hiraku.

Was there any end to the nonsense that these two could get up to together?

We make our way into the kitchen where no one attempts to stop us. They must somehow know what we're here for.

“If we head through to the back there should be a door leading through to the storeroom where our order should be stored,” Hiraku says, directing us through the kitchen.

As we reached the door in question it opens and one of the chefs came through it.

“Excuse me,” Hiraku asked. “Ehere was the order for class 3-2 dropped off?”

“Right through there,” the chef responds. “It’s just through the door against the left wall.

“Thank you for your help,” Hiraku says as the chef brushes past us.

The three of us head into the storeroom and I easily spotted the boxes meant for 3-2. The pile really is quite big.

“There’s a lot of it,” Iwao says, voicing my thoughts.

“Yes,” Hiraku responds, “I would have liked to order more but this is what our budget allowed for.”

“You’re confident about your sales then?” I ask.

“Oh yes, the noodle stand is very popular. I wouldn’t be surprised if we run out of some ingredients," he replies.

“Well, let’s get make sure that everything is here otherwise there could be real trouble,” Iwao says.

“Yes,” replies Hiraku. “I’ll call out the items and you two check that they’re here.” He began to work his way done the list, feeling for each item as he called them out.

“Egg noodles, Ramen noodles, Soba noodles….”

“Yes, yes, yes…”

“Sesame oil, peanut oil, soy sauce…”

“Garlic, shallots, spring onion…”

“Yes, yes, yes…”

We made our way down the list and, once we finally reached the end, found that there was in fact nothing missing.

“That’s amazing,” I say. “They didn’t leave anything out.”

“That is truly wonderful,’ Hiraku says. “I don’t think we would have been able to find any new stock would arrive in time for the festival.”

“So, if we’re done here, what’s next?” Iwao asks.

“Now we head back to class. I’m sure we can find something for you to do since you seem so lost.” Hiraku stops, expectantly waiting for Iwao’s answer.

“Fine,” Iwao responds, but if someone else needs my help more I’ll have to decline your generous offer.

“We shall see,” Hiraku says, before we head out of the kitchen storeroom.

---

On our way back to class, we run into a walking tower of boxes. It doesn’t look very stable as it weaves its way alone the corridor, constantly teetering on the edge of collapse.

I put my hand out to warn Hiraku of the danger before approaching the tower.

“Are you alright under there?” I ask as I make my way around the obstacle.

“Nanami?” I exclaim. “What are you doing under all that?”

It was indeed Nanami struggling along with a far larger load than was reasonable for such a small girl. That she was doing this with only one hand was more impressive as I’m sure it made it much harder to keep the tower of boxes stable.

“I went to fetch some stuff for our stall, and I think I bit off a bit too much.” There was a slight tinge of panic in her voice, as if she realizes the danger she's in.

I reach up and took a box of the top. “Here take this,” I said to Iwao, and he fumbles for a moment before stabilizing it. It must be even harder for him than it is for Nanami.

I then take two of the boxes myself.

With the easing of her load, Nanami now looks far less worried for her own safety.

“I’m sorry Hiraku, but I don’t think I’ll be able to help you anymore," I explain. "A classmate has gone a bit overboard and I don’t think she’ll be able to manage alone. Would it be alright if we left you here?”

A flash of emotion flew across his face before the serene expression quickly returned.

“Of course you can go. I’ve already taken up plenty of your day and your own classmates should always come first. I do hope that you’ll come by our stall on Sunday though. It would be a shame if you missed out seeing the result of your hard work.”

“I’ll definitely find time to drop by,” I say. “Oh, will you be free at some point on Sunday. Iwao was looking for people to do something in the evening.”

“Is that so?” He responds.

“Yeah, I was thinking of heading into town for some karaoke in the evening. Would you like to join?” Iwao asks.

“That does sound fun,” Hiraku says. “Would you be joining us at this little party?”

“As I said to Iwao, I’ll let you know closer to the time. This is the only festival I’ll get to experience, so I don’t want to write it off before I’ve given it a chance,” I reply

“Well, I do hope that we’ll see each other again before the festival has passed,” Hiraku says before heading off on his own.

Nanami has remained silent through all of this.

“Thank you for offering to help,” she says. “But are you sure it’s alright? You seemed to be in the middle of something.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I say. “I couldn’t leave you to struggle like this on your own. You needed my help.”

“Don’t forget about me,” Iwao adds. “I’ve been called up for service as well.”

“It’s not all that bad,” I scold him. “Iwao, this is Nanami. Namami, Iwao.”

“Hi,” Nanami says, and Iwao nods back.

“So where are we heading?” He asks.

“I need to take these to the auditorium so the band can finish working on their stalls," Nanami replies.

That was a long way to go with such a big load.

Nanami really had bitten of more than she could chew with this one, but I say nothing as the three of us head back down the stairs towards our destination.

When we arrive, there is a flurry of activity as the band seems to be working on multiple stalls.

“I thought you were performing for the festival,” I say looking around at the mass of busy students. “It looks like you’re running half the festival.”

“We’re only on in the evening,” Nanami answers. “Since there are so many of us, we thought it would be good to have two stalls otherwise a bunch of us would have nothing to do for the festival.”

It really was quite impressive how into it the band members seemed to be. Seeing us arrive with the boxes a familiar face headed our way.

Although I hadn’t had the chance to meet all my classmates yet, I did at least know who they all were.

Saki seemed to have taken charge of at least part of the preparations, directing the other students towards tasks that needed attention.

“Thanks for getting those and for bring help as well,” she says seeing me and Iwao trailing behind Nanami. "If you could take those over to Chisato, she’ll know what to do with them.”

“Okay,” Nanami says before heading towards a girl with raven-coloured hair who seemed to be putting together what looked like carnival.”

“Wait a minute,” I say to Nanami in confusion. “You said you wanted to get a fish at the festival. Aren’t you running the stall though?”

Nanami looks at me with an equally puzzled look on her face. “What’s that got to do with anything? I still want to win the fish myself.”

I look to Iwao for his opinion on this.

“Makes sense to me,” he says.

I guess I’m the weird one here.

“Oh, I’m glad you’ve brought those prizes. Just set them down there and help me glue these together,” Chisato says.

We set the boxes down and get to work assembling the various games alongside the band members.

By the time we finish our work, it’s quite late in the evening. Despite not having a stall of my own, I’ve managed to become quite involved in the festival preparations. As we all make our way back to the doom rooms, I turn to Iwao to say goodbye.

“I do hope you’ll decide to join us on Sunday,” he says.

“We’ll see,” I reply.

---

< Previous Chapter - Next Chapter >

Clockwork Soldier

With the arrival of the weekend, I decide that there is no reason to get up too early. With no classes and no appointments to keep, it would be nice to stay in and read. As the morning progresses, I can hear activity begin to pick up out on the school grounds.

Looking out of my window, I can see that the place is swarming with students as they work to get their stalls into position. Watching them work sends a twinge of guilt through me as I think about my own lazy morning.

I might as well get out there and see what’s going on. Maybe even lend a hand if I run into anyone I know.

After making my way down into the main courtyard, I pass by several stalls as I try to figure out what each of them will be. I pass by the band’s area where they're in the middle of assembling one of the stalls, but don’t see anyone that had been working on it yesterday. I guess it’s a different shift at the moment.

Class 3-2 has already made good progress in setting up their stall. It looks like they’ve got some outside help as I don’t recognize any of the students there. I wonder if those like Hiraku and Lily have decided that it’s best to stay out of the way of such a busy construction site.

I’m about to leave when I see a familiar figure coming down the pathway. His features are hidden behind a face mask but his size, and the fact that he is carrying what looks to be the entire front of the noodle stall, means that it can only be Toru. I’m sure that it’s impossible for there to be another student that could do it.

I think he spots me, but he is a bit preoccupied with what he’s somehow managing to pull off. Only once he drops it into place in front of the serving table does he turn to me.

“Hatsumi!” He says, seemingly very happy to see me. “I’m glad to see you out enjoying the festival preparations. It really is great being able to lend a hand and help where you can.”

“Yes, it is,” I respond, looking at my contribution that is now part of the display he just dropped into place. “You’re really pulling your weight around here. Are you sure it’s safe to carry that much?”

“Oh, that was nothing,” he responds casually. “If I thought I couldn’t manage it, I wouldn’t have tried. I just knew that it would speed things up bringing it through all in one piece.”

“Well, I’m impressed,” I say, “Well done.”

“Thanks,” he replies. “Speaking of which, I didn’t get to thank you for your help earlier this week. Rei said she found you, but I wanted to offer my thanks as well.”

Toru bows formally towards me, which looks like a building was collapsing towards me.

“It’s all right,” I say jumping back to avoid being crushed. “I didn’t really do that much anyway.”

“You say that,” he responds. “But things are so much messier when there aren’t any witnesses. That you were impartial to the whole thing was even better. Relying on Tainaka’s friends would have caused almost as many problems as having no witness at all. It was also nice that you were willing to help out when we were fixing that paperwork the day before.”

He seems very sincere in his gratitude, and I feel it would be wrong to argue with him on the point.

“Then I accept your thanks, Toru,” I say, and I can see the smile in his eyes.

“Why the mask?” I ask. “Are4 things really that bad at the moment?”

“It’s not that,” he responds, not noticing that i have some understanding of his condition “I’m going to be spending a lot of time outdoors today and I’d like to avoid any allergy flare ups. It’s very unpleasant so I try to take precautions.”

I remember talking about his allergies. It can’t be pleasant wearing a mask while doing physical labour, and I'm not sure I'd be able to do it.
I decide not to press on that point and just continue with another topic.

“Since you’re busy with all of this, I assume that all that paperwork you guys were doing is finished?” I ask. “You’d still be locked away if it wasn’t, right?”

“It’s not that bad,” Toru says accusingly. “But yes, it’s all done. If anyone wanted to put any more orders to outside contractors through the school, it’s too late. They’ll have to find their own supplier. Our job is over now, but that isn’t going to stop me from getting involved.”

I get the impression that what he’s saying only applies to himself. From what I know of Rei and have seen of Giichi, the two of them don’t seem likely to be helping with this type of manual labour.

“Walk with me,” Toru says. “We can talk while I find more things to move.”

He really seems enjoying his role as the school’s packhorse.

“Maybe you should check on the band’s stall,” I suggest. “They’ve only got one up so far and might have need of your talents.”

“See,” he responds happily. “You’re looking out for the good of the students already and it hasn’t even been a week. It’s almost as if you belong in the disciplinary committee.”

“Are you really trying to recruit me into your little… club?” I ask.

“I think the word you’re looking for is circus,” he replies. “We’re an unusual bunch for sure, but we all mean well, and we work our hearts out.”

Their dedication has been made clear to me thanks to Rei’s frantic searches for me, but it was interesting to see that Toru was so understanding when it came to their peculiarities.

It had been a difficult thing for Rei to open up to me, but he was basically admitting to being a circus act for the school without a moment’s hesitation.

“I glad you find your little club so amusing,” I say, “I haven’t been sure whether to worry about the three of you or run for my life.”

“You joined us at one of the busiest times of the year,” Toru says. “I think we’re allowed a little bit of slack for our behaviour.”

“Fine,” I say. “But I expect to see something different from now on.”

“I’ll try my best to make that happen,” he replies. “ But if things go wrong, we’ll be back into emergency mode straight away.”

I suppose I can’t really ask any more of him. The committee has no control over what students might do. They just have to react as needed.

We arrive at the bands stall, and I see that Chisato has arrived. At least there’s someone I recognise now.

“Hey Chisato, I’ve found some help for you,” I say.

She turns to look at me and jumps at the sight of Toru. I guess she hasn’t had the opportunity to meet him before. “Holy…” she starts, before regaining her composure. “Morning Hatsumi, where did you find..?”

“Toru,” he responds, “Happy to meet you Chisato.”

“I found him wandering along with someone’s stall and thought you guys could use something like that as well,” I say.

“I believe we can,” she replies, clearly unsure about the truthfulness of my statement. “If you’re able to, then there are some things that we could use help within carrying from the auditorium.”

“We’ll head over there now,” he says, turning to leave.

“Seriously, where did you find him?” she asks me quietly.

“I’ll tell you another time,” I say as I leave to catch up with Toru. It seems that he also prefers the blistering pace that I saw from Rei.

It’s as if they both hate the idea of wasting any time in getting where they’re going.

There isn’t really any chance for us to talk on the way there as I’m only just able to keep up with Toru. When we do arrive, the auditorium is even busier than it was yesterday. Not only are the students working on their stalls, but they are also having to set up the seats for tomorrows performance.

Toru looks around at the room, clearly trying to decide where he’s needed most. He apparently makes up his mind as he heads off to the group of students moving seats into position. The seats are a cross between our school desk chairs and a bench. Four individual seats combined into a bench.

The students work in pairs to lift them off the piles on each side of the hall before moving them into place. Toru simply strides up to them and, pulling them away from the wall to get behind them, lifts three of them up under one arm. Several of the students stop what they were doing to stare at him as he walks over to the most recent row of chairs to lay them out.

“Hatsumi, could you help me get these into position,” he says as he drops them down just next to the unfinished row.

I head over to him still somewhat shocked by the casual display of strength.

“Take that end of the top one,” he orders me as he starts to lift the opposite side.

I do as he instructs and realise that I am only just able to lift the bench. I hope he doesn’t want to do too many of these as I won’t be able to keep up for long. Once we slot the three benches into place, he heads off to fetch some more.

While I watch him grab another set of three benches, Saki comes over to me.

“Impressive,” she says, also having noticed the feat he’s pulling off. “You work quickly. Glad you’re lending him to us at least.”

I roll my eyes at her. Why does everyone make assumptions like that?

“He was just looking for things to lift and I knew the band could use that,” I say. “There’s nothing else going on.”

“Sure thing,” Saki replies. “Hisao has been moving fast about these things, so it wouldn’t surprise me if our second transfer student was just as quick about it.”

That was interesting. I knew Saki liked to swim thanks to her arriving to class with wet hair one morning, but I didn’t realize it was her that was stealing him away from Emi’s track club.

I’d have to tell Cho and Nanami at some point. If they didn’t know already, I’m sure it’ll interest the two of them.

“I think I’ll take things slower than you,” I respond.

I was happy to see a tinge of embarrassment flash across Saki’s face, but she quickly gets it under control.

“Well once he’s done with that, I’d be very grateful if he could help carry that fish tank to the stall,” shesaiys, changing the topic quickly. “I don’t know who got it here, but we’re going to struggle getting it outside.”

“He’s definitely the man for the job,” I say looking over at the large glass tank. “But I’ll need someone to help me with these benches. I don’t have the strength or the stamina to keep up with that.”

Toru is already back with the next set of benches and ready to begin laying them out.

“I’ll do that,” Saki says, before heading over to some of the other girls and sending them my way.

With three extra sets of hands, things went much more smoothly. Two of us help Toru set out one of the benches before swapping out with the other pair. We then wait for him to rush off for the next set of benches.

At some point, during all of this I noticed that he’s removed his mask. Apparently, his allergies were not an issue now that he was indoors, and it made it much easier for him to breath. However, his energy isn’t limitless as he’s no longer as quick as he had started out and his breathing is getting quite heavy.

“Maybe you should take a break from that,” I say, concerned by the fact that he doesn’t seem to know his limits. “They still want you to carry that fish tank over there.”

It is this fact that seems to get him to pause rather than any concern for his own condition. I think I’m now beginning to see how he fits in with the disciplinary committee. While they seem much more serious than him at first, he clearly gets just as invested in what he’s doing as the other two.

“Take a minute to catch your breath and then we can get going,” I say before looking around for Saki.

Finding her, I head over and say, “We’ll be taking that tank in a moment, anything you want me to carry?”

She pauses for a moment. “That box over there. It's full of the paper nets that go with it. You can take those with you. And thank you for the help.”
“You’re welcome,” I respond, before heading back over to Toru.

He’s standing before the tank looking a bit puzzled.

“What is it?” I ask, noticing that his mask was back on.

“Just trying to figure out the best way to carry it,” he says.

It’s pretty large and isn’t something you would want to drop.

“I know,” he says, before bending down and hoisting it up onto his shoulder. He stands there for a few moments adjusting it so that it balanced properly. “Off we go.”

I quickly gabbed my own load before taking the lead on our journey. It’s probably best that make sure to clear the path for him.

---

There are a lot of eyes on Toru as we make our way back to the band’s stand. He does look even more strange than usual with the huge glass tank, but we make it there without incident.

Toru carefully places the tank on the ground where Chisato directs him to, before stepping back to admire his work.

He seems very proud of what he had done.

I hand over the nets as well and Chisato gets back to work after a quick thanks. I stand there for a moment wondering what to say when a voice speaks up behind us. I decide not to turn around to look at the speaker.

I know that voice and I want to stay out of it.

“Toru, I see you’ve been busy helping the stalls set up, but I’m afraid I’m going to need your help again,” the voice says.

Toru spins around, clearly happy to hear the voice of our sudden guest.

“Of course I’ll come with you,” he says. “I needed to head to the convenience stall anyway. How about you join us, Hatsumi.”

I groaned internally. I couldn’t avoid him any longer.

“Hi Giichi,” I said turning to face him, with a forced smile on my face.

He still scares me after Wednesday’s events.

There’s no emotion on his face.

“Good afternoon, Nakano,” he replies flatly.

I gulped. That wasn’t the reaction I had hoped for.

“Don’t be like that,” Toru says, his eyes still sparkling with delight. “Hatsumi really helped us out.”

Having turned away from me to listen to Toru, he now refocuses on me.

He smiles and says, “I’m very grateful for your assistance. Things would have gotten complicated without it.”

The smile doesn't reach his eyes, which is extremely disconcerting.

I quickly looked to Toru to avoid Giichi’s piercing gaze.

“See, that wasn’t too hard was it Giichi,” Toru says.

“Trust me, he really does mean it,” he continues. “It just takes time to learn how to read him.”

I decide that I'll give Toru the benefit of the doubt even if it seems like he’s insane for interpreting Giichi’s response that way.

“So, have you been down to the convenience store yet?” Toru asks me.

“Not yet,” I respond without thinking about the context of the conversation. “I’m not even sure where the closest one is.”

“Then we shall show you,” Giichi volunteers. “We’re heading there anyway.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I say, trying to backpedal out the trap Toru has laid for me.

I’d gotten complacent around him, but now he’s shown how devious he can be.

“I’m sure I can find my own way there when the time comes,” I say.

“Nonsense,” Giichi continues firmly. “We must repay your assistance with some of our own.”

There is a bit more life in the delivery of that statement, but I mostly feel the commanding force that seems to accompany so much of what Giichi says.

I turn to Toru with a pleading look, but he seems to have returned to his former good-natured self.

I guess I hav no choice.

“Well, I’m glad you offered,” I say to Giichi. “Please lead the way.”

I can sense the huge smile behind Toru’s mask.

---

Once again, Toru has taken the lead and it seems to fall on my shoulders to stand in for Rei. A small consolation about this arrangement is that Toru has reduced his pace.

Apparently, he’ll do this for Giichi, but not for me.

We make it all the way out of the gates before anyone spoke up. To my surprise, it’s Giichi who broke the silence.

“I hope you’ve enjoyed your first week here?” he says questioningly.

I turn to look at him in surprise.

“Eyes forward,” he snaps suddenly, and I almost trip over my own feet.

“Or things like that happen,” he continues.

I decide to heed his advice. It might also help not to look at his emotionless face as he talked.

“It’s been very busy,” I respond carefully after considering his question.

“Busy can be good or bad,” he answers. “It doesn’t tell me much. How have you felt about your first week with us.”

There seems to be a tone of genuine interest in his voice.

Is there more to the formation we are walking in than simply brushing people out of the way?

Does Giichi have the same incomprehensible face as Kubo?

“It’s been nice,” I respond. “There’s been a lot to get used to, but there are so many friendly and helpful people here that it’s been a lot easier than I thought it would be.”

We walk a bit further in silence.

“That’s good,” Giichi finally says. “Everyone tries their best to make it work. I’m glad that you’re finding a place to fit in.”

That’s unexpectedly warm of Giichi. I know everyone says how hard it is to get into a conversation with him, but Cho and Nanami seem to have been right about needing an introduction. With Toru there to get things moving, it seems that he’s willing to entertain me.

How sincere it is would be for another time. He may just not want to spend this entire trip in silence.

“There it is Hatsumi,” Toru says suddenly, pointing ahead of us.

I look ahead and see the convenience store coming up ahead of us. We must have just missed it when I last came into town. I have Cho’s winding journey to thank for that.

We head inside and I take a basket from the door. Toru does the same, but Giichi windn't. Isn’t he the one who wanted to come here though?

I think back to when he found us.

Yes, he wanted Toru’s company for this trip. Maybe he needs Toru here to carry his shopping?

Were things really that bad for him?

I suppose I haven’t seen him carry much, not even his school bag. I know that he’s meant to be fragile, and his escort and hesitation to join a crowd is a constant reminder of that, but it must be worse than I thought.

“How about we meet up again once we’ve got everything we need,” Toru says.

I nod and Giichi is already heading off down one of the isles.

“How am I doing?” I ask Toru. “I’m still not sure how he feels about me.”

“Well, that’s a good thing then,” he responds. “It’s very obvious if he’s not interested in you. I’d eat this basket if you found someone who can treat you more frostily that Giichi can. You’re practically a close friend already. Now excuse me.”

He rushes off to catch up with Giichi.

It sure felt like he was still being frosty, but apparently Toru saw things very differently.

Putting those thoughts aside, I start to look around the store. Since I’ve mostly relied on the cafeteria for all my meals, I hadn’t really needed to buy anything for myself.

It would be nice to have some snacks on hand though. Walking along, I decide to avoid anything that will need to be refrigerated. I’m not sure that I can trust the fridges in the dorm common room. I’m sure things go missing all the time.

I head around the stall and pick up some chips and noodles as I walk along. Reaching the back corner, I see that there’s some toothpaste at a good price. I might as well take one as mine is running low anyway.

I wander around, not really looking for anything in particular when I come across the aisle that Toru and Giichi are in. They’re looking at the coffee’s that are available. I would have assumed that there would be a particular brand that they would choose, but Giichi seems very interested in examining each one.

They’re lower down on the shelves so it’s interesting to watch how he handles this situation. The stiffness that he has in class follows him here.
Slowly bending at the waist while keeping everything else straight. It seemed very difficult.

“I’m heading to the till,” I say as I walk past.

“See you outside,” Toru responds.

Giichi just nods, still deeply interested in the various brands of coffee.

It doesn’t take long to ring up my items and I’m soon waiting outside for the two of them. Several people walk by. They're on the older side.

That does seem to be a common trait shared by most of the town’s inhabitants.

When the other two do join me, I try to get a peak into the bag Toru is carrying. There seem to be a number of different coffees and teas.

“I like to blend my coffee,” Giichi says, noticing my interest. “None of them are quite right on their own, so I have to mix and match them.”

“I don’t get it either,” Toru says, seeing my puzzled face. “But I’ve learnt not to get in the way of coffee nuts. They can go rabid if it’s not just the way they like it.”

“You’ll learn to appreciate coffee one day,” Giichi responds.

His exasperated tone made it seem like this was a common issue he had with Toru.

I’m on Toru’s side about this, but I can guess that Rei might have Giichi’s back on this one.

“I’ll back you up on this argument, Toru,” I say and am immediately hit with a withering look from Giichi.

For some reason, it’s not as bad as before. As if he finds my response amusing rather than annoying.

“Don’t you start now,” he says. “I can’t take more than one of you.”

Toru laughs at this. “Finally! Now you know what it’s like!”

I’m apparently right about Rei’s position on the topic.

Giichi huffs in response, before marching off. “Let’s get going.”

He seems a lot more relaxed now, as if he’s slowly transforming into a different person. The change emboldens me to ask him something that has been weighing on my mind.

“Giichi,” I begin.

“Yes,” he responds without looking back.

“Is there anything I need to do in case something happens to you?” I ask.

I can’t get over the extreme care he seems to take with keeping himself safe from his environment and, since I seem to have become a part of his escort, it feels like I should know what to do if anything happened to him.

We’re all silent for a moment and I wonder if I’ve overstepped.

I’m about to say something when Giichi speaks up. “It’s not too serious anymore. As long as no-one knocks me over, I should mostly be fine. The braces do the rest of the work.”

Braces? I look at Giichi more closely, but I can’t really make anything out. Maybe his waist is a bit bulkier that it should be considering the rest of him?

It seems he can feel me examining him from behind because he continues, “They’re around my back, waist, and knees. Helps to keep me stable, but they can make moving more difficult.”

That’s more than I’d expected. The back brace seems obvious, looking at how straight he stands at all time, but the rest of them must cause problems for him.

He's good at hiding it though as, although his movement might be a little stiff, I wouldn’t have been able to point out the cause without him telling me about them.

“If I fall, don’t try to help me,” he says.

That seems rather cold and cruel on himself.

“I’ll decide if somethings wrong and, if it is, go get help from someone who knows what they’re doing,” he continues.

If that’s what he wants, then I guess I not in s position to disagree. He obviously knows his condition better than I do.

“What about you?” he asks.

Again, his interest surprises me.

“There isn’t much to do for me,” I say.

“Well, what should we know?” Toru asks.

I ponder what to say to these two. I not sure I'm ready to be as open as I had been that evening with Rei.

They do deserve something though.

“I suppose you should stop me if it looks like I’m about to wander into traffic. Or wait until I return to my senses if I suddenly go still,” I explain. “And if I ever try to wander off on my own, don’t let me.”

“That should be easy enough,” Toru says. “I’ll just throw you over my shoulder if you try to fun off.”

“Let’s not stoop to that,” Giichi responds.

I have to agree with him on that. I don’t want to find myself slung over Toru’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

We continue walking up the hill back towards Yamaku, as the wind starts to pick up. I can see the trees swaying in the distance.

Some of the wind is being funnelled down the street towards us, which causes a cool breeze that is a pleasant relief from the hot sun beating down us.

As the breeze picks up it starts to swirl around the street, hemmed in by the buildings on each side.

While it is getting quite strong and unpredictable, I’m still enjoying the cool air.

Suddenly, Toru seems to be breathing very heavily. We had been working much harder earlier, so I not sure why he’s struggling with walking up this hill with his relatively light load.

Giichi on the other hand has suddenly become very tense.

“Toru, we need to get you out of this wind,” he says as he tried to guides Toru towards an alleyway off to the side of the road.

Toru is now gasping for air and Giichi reaches up to grab his mask.

“Drop the bag,” he orders, and Toru complies.

I stand there in shock as I watch the two of them head down the alleyway and around a corner. Toru is seriously hyper-ventilating and Giichi seems genuinely worried.

I grab the discarded bag and follow after them.

When I round the corner, I find Toru sitting on the floor and Giichi struggling to get something out of Toru’s breast pocket.

He looks up at me, his eyes ware still cold despite the panic he seems to be in.

“Get over here,” he orders. “I can’t get his inhaler out.”

Toru’s busy trying to control his breathing and is clearly failing.

I hurry over.

“It should be in his breast pocket,” Giichi says “Get it out.”

I crouch down and reach into his pocket.

There it is!

I pull it out and look up to Giichi, not knowing what to do next.

“I’ll do it,” he says, stepping forward and grabbing it from me. “Out of my way.”

I quickly step back and watch as Giichi holds the inhaler out in front of Toru’s face. It looks like Toru is in such a bad way that he can do nothing but sit there, gasping for air, and look around frantically.

“Toru, on thee count of three,” Giichi says, bringing the inhaler closer to Toru’s mouth. “One, two, three.”

Just as Giichi presses down on the inhaler, Toru takes a deep breath.

The two of them repeat this a few more times until Toru slowly seems to get his breathing back under control.

Giichi looks over at me.

“I need you to stay with him,” he say. “I’ll go get some water for him.”

With that Giichi sets off back the way we’d come with what looks like little thought for his own safety.

I sit down next to Toru and try to put my arm around his shoulder, but quickly give up on that. His breathing is still ragged, but the wheezing from before is gone.

“Is there anything I can do?” I ask. I had been stunned by the sudden deterioration of his health and I would have frozen had Giichi not been directing me.

“I… should… be fine…,” Toru says between breaths. "But take this.”

He pulls a tube out of his pocket.

It looked like an EpiPen.

“If it gets worse again, use that on me, in my upper leg,” he explains. “The inhaler should do the job but, just to be safe, have it ready.

“Where’s Giichi gone?” I ask.

“Water,” he responds. “I need to… flush my system…”

I look at him in confusion, but he waves me away. “Giichi can explain…”

We sit there for some time as Toru tries to control his breathing until Giichi finally returns with some bottles of water and a straw.

“Here you go,” he says, handing them over.

“Thanks,” Toru says before turning to me, “Now how about you go chat to Giichi.”

I don’t really want to leave Toru alone or ‘chat’ to Giichi, but I’m not going to force myself on him. I stand up and head over to Giichi who motions me to follow him around the corner.

We look at each other until I decide to break the silence.

“He said you could explain what happened,” I say hesitantly.

Giichi narrows his eyes, as if he’s trying to decide whether to believe me about that. He seems to decide that I am telling the truth as he begins to lay out what happened.

“Toru has asthma,” he says. “Most of the time it doesn’t act up. It’s been months since he last had an attack like that. As you saw they can get pretty bad.”

I looked down at the EpiPen I was holding.

Apparently, they could get a lot worse.

“Yes, they can,” Giichi agreed, once again reading my thoughts. “He has a lot of allergies and any of them could set it off. The mask usually helps, but, as you saw, the wind still managed to get something through it.”

“You acted so quickly, while I just froze in place,” I say.

I had been confronted with an emergency and I’d done nothing.

“You couldn’t have known what to do,” Toru says rejoining us, his mask back in place. “It’s pretty crazy that things went wrong right as we were sharing what needed to be done if any of us got into trouble. You got some on the job training in my case.”

I find it difficult to believe that Toru isalready back to his usual self which must have shown on my face.

“My inhaler’s got some potent stuff in it. Any reaction is basically shut down instantly,” he explains. “The water is so that I can clear out anything that might cause another reaction. I have to flush out my sinuses as quickly as possible.
”
“We should get going anyway,” Giichi says, back in his serious mode. “I know that’s not ideal he said pointing at the half empty water bottle. Let’s get you back to the dorms so that you can do a proper job of it.”

“Yes, let’s,” Toru responds.

We continue our journey, Toru taking extra care to ensure his mask stays in place and me carrying both bags of shopping.

“I’d take one for you,” Giichi says “But I’d really rather not end up hurting myself. Weight is not good for my bones.”

He doesn’t elaborate any further, but his situation seems more and more extreme if he’s really that worried about carrying something for the short remainder of our journey.

---

As we make it to the dorm rooms, Toru turns to me. “I really do want you to know that what you did helped. Don’t think you were useless. You were there and that counts for a lot.” Without waiting for a response, he turned away and headed for the stairs.

I watch him head off towards the stairs before Giichi steps in front of me.

“Let’s get going,” he says, before heading for the stairs on the far right of the building.

It turns out Giichi is also on the third floor of his dorms. Room 328. He opens the door and motions me in.

I hesitate, not sure about going into his room which leads to him giving me what is apparently his signature withering look.

“Nothing is going to happen,” he says. “I’m not a moron.”

His bluntness spurs me into action, and I step into a room that is even barer than mine. The bedsheets are plain cream and the only things on the bookshelf are folders of the same colour. He does have his own kettle at least.

“Just leave that on the table,” he says as he stares at me.

I follow his orders and then look at him, the moment stretches out into awkwardness.

“You need a distraction,” he says, “Let’s go find that dynamic duo. I’m sure a game will take your mind off of things.”

“A game with the dynamic duo?” I ask.

What did he mean by that?

“Yes, let’s get going,” he responds, already out the door.

I have little choice but to hurry after him as the door is already swinging closed behind him.

I follow, noticing that he is being much more careful without his usual escort. A slower pace as well as pauses at corners shows how conscious he is about this.

We make our way across the school grounds and back into the main building where we head up to the third floor and I realize that the dynamic duo he had been referring to must be the girls on the Student Council.

My belief is confirmed as we reach the student council room and Giichi slides the door open.

I look in over his shoulder and, once again, am greeted by the sight of the two of them engaged in their strange manner of conversation, interspersed with laughter from Misha.

The two of them turn to look at us and a worried look passes over Misha’s face. Shizune is harder to read.

She seems to be trying to figure out Giichi’s motive for being there.

“Let’s play a game,” he announces, already signing the same thing to Shizune to avoid any delays. Misha gulps and Shizune smiles evilly.
What have I found myself in the middle of?

---

Shizune has immediately leapt to her feet with excitement and rushes over to one of the cupboards to retrieve a board game.

Apparently, Hiraku’s games club was not the only one with access to them.

Shizune lays out the game and signs what I assume are orders for Giichi to explain the rules as that is what he starts to do. It seems she has also decided to bypass Misha.

I guess her bubbly nature is not something the two of are going to rely on for what they clearly see as serious business.

I have played Risk before, but it’s been some time so the quick rundown on the rules ss appreciated.

We roll a die to see where everyone will start.

Shizune and Giichi are in opposite corners of the board while Misha and I share the middle. This seems to frustrate Shizune, while Giichi remains stone-faced. Misha has apparently overcome her worries and is happy to be playing the game.

As it progresses, I see that everyone approaches the game differently. Teams also seem to have formed without any noticeable agreements. Giichi and I mostly hold one side of the board while Shizune and Misha hold the other.

Shizune boldly seizes territory but loses troops in the process. Misha tries her best but is not nearly as successful at gaining territory as her silent partner.

I try to emulate Shizune and manage to gain some territory. She smiles at my attempts and signs something to Misha.

“Shicchan likes how competitive you are,” she says to me. “Your fighting spirit and willingness to push for victory is admirable.”

I’m very pleased by this compliment as it means that she’s impressed by my ability

Giichi has been far less active than any of us. After he consolidated his position in South America, he has slowly been pushing north without making any major moves against anyone else
.
He is slowly growing but even Misha controls more territory than him. Did Shizune choose this game because she knows she can beat him at it?

Shizune suddenly goes on the offensive against me.

It’s a tough onslaught, but I manage to hold on and even drive her back slightly when my turn comes. Once I finish my turn, she throws up her hands in frustration before signing something to no one in particular.

“That’s it,” Misha translates.

“What do you mean that’s it?” She then asks.

I don’t understand either.

Shizune signs again as Misha takes her turn.

“You’ll see,” she translates as she finishes her own move.

“I have long believed that sacrifice is the pinnacle of patriotism,” Giichi says slowly.

What is that supposed to mean?

“Your service shall be honoured for all time,” he continues, as he begins his turn.

I begin to understand what he meant as he alarmingly begins his attack against me!

His build up means that he easily wipes me off the board, seizing all of my cards.

I couldn’t believe the betrayal. We were supposed to be teammates!

His assault continues against Misha who quickly meets the same fate as me, handing him even more cards. Shizune has already given up and watches him envelope her troops with ease. I now see why she had wanted to get at him earlier in the game.

“I thought we were a team?” I say, only upset.

“Unfortunately, it couldn’t last forever,” he replies. “I don’t remember us ever actually making such an arrangement.”

That’s an interesting approach to the situation.

“And if we are a team,” he continues, “Then you won as well. Didn’t you?”

Slippery and persuasive.

I turn to Misha and Shizune.

“That’s our win,” I tell them, smiling.

Shizune frowns at this as Misha translates for her and then responds with her own flurry of gestures.

“Since when was this a team game?” Misha translates.

“Since you decided to use Misha in your own plans,” Giichi says for my benefit as he signs his response to Shizune.

The two of them break down into a familiar sight of frantic signing and I decide to give up on the conversation.

“Good game,” I say to Misha who has also decided that things have gotten too complicated for her.

She smiles at this, “It was fun, andI almost beat you.”

Looking over at the other two she continues, “They’re too good at these things for me. There’s always some angle that I don’t see when they go after each other.

“Well, it doesn’t matter if you agree with my strategy,” Giichi said out loud, turning to us and giving a stiff bow. “That’s another victory for me.”

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out an old, tatty notebook. Flipping it open, he takes the pen inside and adds another line to what looks like a page of tally marks. If the whole book is filled with those then I can’t image how long this competition has gone on for.

Clearly making a show of the whole thing he quickly dives back into the silent conversation with the now indignant Shizune.

“You know what that’s about?” I ask Misha.

“It’s something to do with their rivalry,” she responds. “Shicchan gets better grades, and she always makes sure to let him know.

That’s an interesting situation and helps explain Giichi’s current actions.

“Giichi is trickier though,” Misha continues. “Shizune likes to bend the rules and coerce people into doing things for her.”

That was a surprisingly blunt description of how Misha saw her friend.

“But Giichi is something different,” she says. “He never has to bend the rules. He knows them all and he follows them to the letter. Everyone else assumes things that aren’t there. Even Shizune gets caught out by her own assumptions. She can’t help it. Her feelings get involved and that’s when Giichi takes control.”

Another interesting assessment from Misha. It doesn’t really match up with what she said before, but I’d learnt back then that she didn’t really seem to get their relationship.

I suppose he did technically follow the rules, but he seemed to abuse them alongside peoples’ understanding of them just as much as anyone else. Perhaps it was simply that he was better at bluffing his way through it all to emerge looking as if he didn’t break any rules.

He and Shizune seem to have finished their argument and based on Shizune's expression, she seemed to have lost.

“Well, this has all been very fun,” he says. “But it’s time to get going. We all have an early start tomorrow.”

He turns to each of us.

“Thank you for having us,” he says to Misha. “Thank you for joining us, Hatsumi. You’ve been very helpful today.”

Without waiting another moment, he turns away and walks out the room.

I turn to the Student Council and wish them a goodnight before leaving as well. When I get out the door, I see that Giichi is long gone.

It seems appropriate though.

Despite the trouble I had run into today and the eccentric way Giichi seems to behave, I have enjoyed myself.

The distraction worked.

I would need to find Toru tomorrow to make sure he was okay though.

Considering everything I’ve been through today and over the past week, I’m looking forward to what the festival has to offer. My only worry id what Giichi had said.

Why was he so confident in how my day would start.

He seemed to be able to read my thoughts, did the same thing apply to my future as well?

---

< Previous Chapter - Next Chapter >

Clique

I wake to the sound of banging on my door. Again. What could it be this time?

Making my way over to the door, I'm glad to see that it isn’t too early. The sun is at least up this time.

Opening the door, I'm greeted by Chiharu in full protective gear and a bucket of cleaning supplies. She's fidgeting as she stands there.

“Morning Chiharu,” I say, somewhat annoyed by her disturbance. “What do you want?”

“It’s time to clean,” she responds, looking past me into my room. “We need to clean everything.”

That's something I'm definitely not in the mood for, so I try to divert her attention.

“Shouldn’t you be out enjoying the festival?” I ask.

This suggestion seems to horrify her as her eyes go wide and she back peddles away from me. At least I have some space now.

“Why would anyone want to do that?” Chiharu responds.

She genuinely seems horrified by the idea of the festival.

“Everything is so messy and dirty and disgusting," She says. "It should all be thrown out. Besides that, it’s Sunday and Sundays are for cleaning the dorm rooms."

I'm not sure how I'm going to handle this girl who seems ready to force her way into my room when Cho steps out of her room to save the day.

“Chiharu, how about you give Hatsumi a chance to get ready,” she says calmly. “Since she’s new, I’ll explain everything to her, and you’ll be able to get started just now.”

Chiharu stares at Cho for a moment before muttering something under her breath. She then retreats back into her room to leave the two of us standing in the corridor in silence.

“Don’t worry about her,” Cho says to me. “She really needs everything to be clean. So she likes to do a full service every week. We’ve found it best just to leave the doors unlocked and stay out of our rooms on Sunday. Nothing’s ever in the wrong place and she’s never taken anything, so you should just look at it as a weekly cleaning service.”

That's a very interesting way of dealing with our dorm mate, but if Cho says that that it's what I should do, then I'm inclined to believe her. I'm not really interested in going through the same troubles she probably did in learning how to deal with Chiharu.

“Why don’t you get ready for the day and then head downstairs. Nanami is already down in the common room waiting for me,” Cho says. “Why don’t you come with, and we can explore the festival together?"

I briefly considered Cho’s offer.

It probably would be more fun than wandering around alone.

“That would be great,” I say and Cho beams back at me. “Just give me a moment and I’ll be right down.”

Cho heads past me, probably on her way to fill Nanami in on the development while I head back into my room to throw some clothes on before heading off to catch up with the two of them.

---

When I make it downstairs, I find Cho and Nanami waiting by the door for me.

Nanami rushes up to me.

“I'm so happy you decided to join,” she says. “Let’s get going.”

We head out towards the festival, and I finally get to see how busy it is. The noise has been drifting up to my room, but it doesn’t do the crowds justice. Students fill the pathways, most of them still in school uniform.

Is that because they find it comfortable in the same way I do, or were they trying to stand out? I can see that many of the visitors from outside the school are careful in avoiding anyone in Yamaku uniform. It probably is safer for them to assume that anyone in uniform shouldn’t be bumped around in case anything went wrong.

All the stalls are busy, some more so than others. Anything that involved games has a long line of students while the food stalls seem to attract more outsiders.

That does make some sense as the town seems to mostly have an elderly population. They aren’t as interested in the festival games as the students.

“Let’s go catch a fish!” Nanami announces.

She did say she wanted to catch one herself, but it's funny that the first stall she wants to visit is her own.

Cho looks at me exasperatedly and I just shrug my shoulders back at her.

“Fine,” she says. “Let’s go catch you a fish.”

We head over to the band’s stall and there I see the large tank now filled with water and dozens of small goldfish.

Sitting behind it is Saki.

She sees us coming and immediately knows what this is about.

“You know you could just have one,” she says to Nanami.

“And you know that it’s not the same,” Cho responds for her.

“If you say so,” Saki replies shaking her head as she pulls out a paper net.

Nanami examines the net and then looks up at Saki. “Don’t try that with me Saki. I can see that’s the wrong net.”

What does Nanami mean by that?

Saki chuckled in response. “Thought I might give it a go,” she says before returning the paper net to its place and retrieving a much flimsier looking one.

“Just trying to get you the fish,” she says.

Apparently, there's a net for pity cases.

With Nanami’s desire and apparent inability to catch a fish common knowledge, I can see why Saki tried to fool her. Nanami, however, was clearly resolved to do things properly.

She crouches over the tank, staring into it as she tries to spot one she wants. She eventually does and dips her net into the water close to one of the edges of the tank. She then pins what might be the largest fish in the tank against the glass.

“You’ve got this,” Cho says also watching the fish intently as Nanami begins to lift the fish towards the surface.

Unfortunately, it looks as if Nanami has overestimated the strength of her paper net. The huge goldfish has already torn a small hole in her net.

By the time she gets it out of the water the fish falls back through the net and into the tank.

“So close,” Nanami says in frustration.

“You nearly got it,” Saki says. “Maybe aim for a smaller one next time?”

A few other people look like they want to try their luck, so Nanami steps back. She seems to have the sense to prioritize paying customers despite her desire to catch a fish.

“We can come back and try again later,” Cho says. “How about we go find some food instead?”

The suggestion of food causes Nanami to perk up. I also like the sound of that as it would be nice to get something after having skipped breakfast.

We walk along the stalls, passing several that sell snacks. Candy and chocolate won’t really do much to fill us up, so we continue on.

We arrive at a stall selling Takoyaki with lines that aren’t too long. The students at the stall seem to be very organised if the speed they are working at is anything to go by.

“Let’s get some Takoyaki,” Nanami suggests. “It might not be that filling, but it looks really nice.”

I have to agree with her. Several people walk by with plates of Takoyaki. There's steam rising off balls coated in bubbling oil.

The three of us join the queue and are soon presented with our own serving of the delicious snack.

I end up carrying the plate while the other two spear the balls with their little skewers from either side.

Even out of class they're looking to trap me in place.

Once we finish the food, we head over to another games stall where there are prizes to win by knocking cans over. The stuffed toys all along the display really are cute so we all decide to have a go.

Cho goes first, attempting to bring a whole tower of cans down with her throws. This plan doesn’t go to well and she ends up only knocking a few of the cans down.

Nanami is more successful, as she’s less ambitious which pays off as a large portion of the cans come tumbling down.

Finally, it’s my turn. Knowing that I have a powerful throw, I aim for the bottom of the largest tower.

My first throw shifts a few of the cans.

The second causes the entire tower to wobble.

Cho and Nanami watch with bated breath.

My final throw sends the entire tower tumbling to the floor. Cho and Nanami whoop in excitement and both envelop me in a tight hug.

“Well done!” They squeal simultaneously.

I am rather proud of my achievement.

The boy behind the stall hands me the largest prize available. I guess I don’t get much of a choice when there’s only one thing available for the grand prize. It’s a large dopey looking lion.

While he has a huge mane, he has a rather sleepy look on his face.

Cho and Nanami each choose their own prizes. Nanami picks out a cute little penguin while Cho chooses an oversized goldfish. The two of them then immediately swapped prizes with each other without a word.

We move on with our prizes, although I foresee mine becoming a problem before too long. We soon arrive at class 3-2’s noodle stall, which might be an opportunity for us to get something more filling.

“How about we get something here?” I ask my companions.

The two of them examine the stall menu before Nanami speaks up. “We could do with something more.”

Cho nods as well. It looks like they feel the same way I did.

We join the queue and steadily made our way towards the serving counter. They really have been ambitious with all the options available.

Looking at the student taking orders, I was happy to see a familiar face. He was apparently doing very well at handling the steady flow of customers.

“Hey Hiraku,” I say as we reached him.

His brown furrows for a moment as he tried to place my voice.

“Hatsumi,” he says with a smile. “I’m so glad you could make it. What would you like to order.”

I suppose he can’t really waste time chatting with all the customers waiting behind us.

“I think I’ll have the Tonkotsu Ramen,” I say.

“And we’ll have the Udon and the Soba salad,” Cho adds.

“Just a moment while we get that ready for you,” Hiraku responds, motioning to a little dish for us to place the money in.

We do so and it isn’t long before our food is ready. Hiraku passes the bowls to us one at a time.

“I hope you enjoy our food,” he says.

“I’m sure we will,” I respond. “But I do have a pretty strange request. I won this huge lion and need somewhere to keep it do you mind if I leave it here?”

Hiraku freezes and it’s almost as if he is staring at me in confusion.

“Of course we’ll look after your lion. Just take it around back,” he says.

Apparently, he’s thought better of asking for an explanation.

“We’ll keep your Ramen safe,” Nanami says. “Go find a home for that cute thing.”

I nod gratefully while handing over my bowl and head around the stall to find a place out of the way for my lion.

I look around, not wanting to leave it somewhere that someone might trip over it, and decide that its best to stuff it under a table as far back as possible.

I see a spot that would probably work just fine, but it's currently blocked by Lilly. She’s in the middle of a conversation with a slightly older woman who looks terribly similar to her. If it wasn’t for the suit and the shorter hair, I would have said that they were the same person.

“Excuse me Lilly,” I say, “Could I please get to that table behind you.”

Lilly cocks her head looking confused. “Who is it?” she asks.

“It Hatsumi,” I reply. “Hiraku said I could store something here.”

“That is a very interesting something,” the other woman says eyeing my toy lion.

“I won it in a game,” I say, feeling the need to provide at least some explanation.

“Well done,” she replies.

Lilly steps in to introduce us. “Akira. This is Hatsumi. She’s been a huge help in setting up the store. Hatsumi, this is my sister.”

The similarity makes sense now.

“It’s good to meet you,” I say, using the space that’s now appeared between them to stuff my lion out of sight.

“Good to meet you too,” she replies.

With that out of the way I make my excuses to leave and hurry back to Cho and Nanami. They’ve found an empty bench to eat at and are waiting for me to join them.

“Thanks,” I say taking my Ramen back as the other two begin to eat. “I got held up meeting Lilly’s sister.”

The two of them seem unsurprised by the revelation. They're also hungry, so the three of us continue to eat hurriedly.

Once we finish, I offer to take everything back to the stall.

Heading back, I drop the bowls off on a side table and shout to get Hiraku’s attention.

Thanks for the food, it was delicious,” I say. “And thanks for storing my lion.”

It’s no problem,” he calls back. “Will you be joining us this evening?”

Will I? I’m still not sure what I want to do with the day.

“I’ll let you know after the band performs,” I say. “Today might still get busy and I’m not sure if I’ll be up for anything after the festival.”

“Sure,” he replies. “I’ll be there anyway. Meet you then.”

With that he turns back to the serving counter to take orders from the line that keeps growing. I don’t know if their ingredients will last with so many customers.

I rejoin Cho and Nanami and we head of to explore some more of the stalls.

---

As we pass by a fortune telling stall, I spot another familiar face. It looks like she's already seen me as Rei is making a beeline for the three of us.

Cho and Nanami go quiet.

Maybe they’re worried about encountering someone on the Disciplinary Committee? I’m sure we haven’t done anything wrong though.

“Morning,” she says, smiling. “You look like you’re enjoying yourselves.”

This friendly approach calms the others, but they still hang back waiting for me to take the lead. It seems I truly am in charge of matters involving the Disciplinary Committee.

“It’s has been a lot of fun,” I say. “I can’t believe how much stuff there is. I mean, I helped here and there but its way more than I thought.”

“Yes, we’ve all been very busy,” Rei says looking around. “But it’s all worked out.”

She then shifts her attention to Cho and Nanami. “It’s good to meet you two as well. I’m sorry that I stole Hatsumi away from you that afternoon."

It takes the two of them a moment to figure out what she’s talking about, but the events of Wednesday afternoon quickly come back to them.

“It’s good to meet you too,” Cho says, she seems to have gotten over her wariness now. “I'm glad to see someone on the Disciplinary Committee getting on so well with one of our friends.”

“Even the Committee doesn’t get away with breaking the rules,” Rei replies cheekily. “So don’t think you can get away with anything just because you ‘know a girl’.”

The two of them seem to have hit it off well, which obviously means that Nanami is just as comfortable all of a sudden.

“I guess we can’t let you find out what we’ll be getting up to,’’ she says mischievously. “And it was all going to be so fun.”

“Nonsense,” Rei replies, puffing up her chest to look important. “I definitely need to know about these things. Can’t let you break the code of conduct.”

“Even if it means telling you how to bend it.” She continues in a whisper.

This draws laughter out of all three of them. It looks like our group has grown, even if it is just for the day.

She seems to have similar requirements to Giichi when it comes to talking to people.

I also realize she's still wearing trousers as well as her gloves and, as she spins into position on our right. I think back to what she said about how other people see her. It all seems done to hide her prosthetics. Granted, she does an excellent job of it. I’m not sure I’d notice anything was wrong if she hadn’t told me the truth.

Strangely, it’s as if her admitting what happened is what makes made all of the smoke and mirrors ineffective. I can tell that she goes to great lengths to keep the truth hidden.

It’s best not to think about that though, since I don’t want to become one of those people she hates. Who stare and pity her.

“How about you decide what to do next,” I say. “You’re the new student, so you get to pick what we show you.

“Of course there’s plenty I want to see,” she says sarcastically. “I’m sure you can use your experience to guide a new student like me around.”

She really is quick about turning anything around and Cho and Nanami can’t help laughing Rei’s response.

It is good even if it is at my expense.

“All right all right, we can all discover what’s on offer together,” I say. “I still think you should get to choose first."

“Fine by me,” Rei responds. I’m doing my rounds anyway, so follow me and we’ll see if we can find any fun while I look for rule breakers.”

It seemed Rei was still on duty despite her willingness to get involved in the fun of the day. We’d have to be careful with what we did around her, even if it did sound like she tended to interpret rules to suit her needs.

As she leads us to another area of the festival, we came across a rather interesting stall combining games and food. Laid out on the table were a whole line of jars filled with various condiments. According to the sign they were all homemade.

Most importantly was the fact that none of them were labelled. There was only a sheet of paper listing each item that was available.
Noticing our interest, the student behind the counter started to explain the rules.

“It’s simple,” she said. “You choose a jar, and you have to guess what’s in it. Once you choose, you can’t back down. Maybe you get a strawberry jam, maybe you get a habanero sauce. If you choose wrong, nothing happens. If you win, you can choose a prize from the list. And please, don't play along if you cant eat anything on that list.”

That sounds easy enough.

“But if you pick a bottle and refuse to have a taste after you open it, then we keep the 5 000 Yen you put up as collateral. And don’t worry if you can’t pay, we keep a tab for students.”

That really ups the stakes. I looked down the list of possible condiments and see some very hot sauces.

I was interested, but I didn’t need to play if the others weren’t up for it. Looking over at them I saw that Cho and Nanami were both trying to hide their excitement.

I wonder if they were hoping someone else would back down for them?

Rei is definitely up for this and is already looking for her wallet.

“What are you waiting for?” She says looking at us excitedly.

Of the three of us, she is the only one with enough money to cover the wager, but I don’t think she’ll need to worry about it if she couldn’t. She clearly intends to follow through with the game.

“Well, now that I have your details and wager, feel free to choose a jar,” the girl says. “I must warn you though, you can’t always judge a book by its cover.”

I examine each of the jars carefully while the others pounder their choices as well. Rei quickly settles on a bright orange sauce, while I take my time as I’d rather avoid something too hot if possible.

In the end we all settle on our choices. Nanami’s is a dark green, while Cho and I have both settled on bottles filled with a red condiment. Mine is slightly darker than hers.

“Here are your spoons,” the girl says, handing over four small teaspoons. “Enjoy."

Rei speaks up first.

“No sniffing the contents,” she says. “You keep it far away from your face until you’re ready to eat it.”

It looked like she wanted to go all in. No chance to back out if you realized you’d made a mistake.

It was probably a good idea. I'd rather eat something way too hot than lose that money.

We all unscrewed out lids and take a spoon of our mystery condiments.

“Three, two, one,” Rei says before shoving the whole thing into her mouth.

The three of us quickly follow suit.

I immediately knew that I had ended up with a jam. What exactly it was, I'm not quite sure.

Looking at the other three, I'm met with a range of reactions. Cho looks quite happy, though not as much as Rei who was almost jumping for joy.

Nanami does not look to happy.

“That’s habanero!” Rei says gleefully.

Apparently, she has a liking for spicy things.

“Correct,” responds the girl behind the stall.

Nanami is now breathing heavily through her mouth, trying to get as much air as possible. The girl holds out a glass of water which Nanami gratefully takes.

Cho on the other hand looks down the list of possible choices before looking up.

“That was strawberry jam,” she says calmly.

“Correct,” comes the answer.

Nanami now seems to have things under control. “Jalapeno?” she says hopefully.

The girl shakes her head.

I look down the list unsure of what I'd tasted. Eventually I settle on one that I felt could be right.

“Blackberry?” I ask.

“It looks like we have two winners,” the girl announces.

I had been wrong.

"What would you like as your prizes?” She asks the winners.

“I'll take the same again as my prize,” Rei says happily. “Maybe I can get those two with this.”

I guess she's planning a prank on the Disciplinary Committee.

“I’ll take the same again as well,” Cho says, and the girl hands over two larger jars with labels this time.

As we leave Cho looks at her watch.

“It’s time for you to start getting ready,” she says to Nanami.

I'm surprised by how much time has passed already.

“Let’s get going then,” Nanami says in response.

“I’m going to keep on with my patrol,” says Rei. “How about you stick with me Hatsumi? We’ll head through to see the band when they start their performance.”

“Yes, you should do that,” Cho answers for me, before heading off with Nanami in tow.

Once they disappear into the distance Rei speaks up. “I have to admit, you’ve found some interesting friends in a very short period of time.”

“They are great. Aren’t they?” I respond.

“They could be,” she agrees. “Now let’s get going. We might find Toru and I’m sure he’ll be good fun at a festival. With his size and strength, no game stands a chance against us.”

The two of us set out to find him. It shouldn’t be too difficult. It will be nice to see that he was okay after out last encounter and to see if anyone will actually let him try any strength-based games.

---

As expected, he isn’t too hard to find. Standing at the top of the stairs above Rin’s now completed mural from where he can probably see everything happening on school grounds.

“Hey Toru,” Rei says as we head up the stairs towards him.

“Rei, Hatsumi, have you been enjoying the festival?” He calls back.

“It’s been great Toru,” Rei replies with a smile “But we’ve come to get you involved in the fun.”

“What do you want me to do?” he asks.

Apparently, he knows that Rei wants to use him for something.

‘We’ve just got to see how good you are at some of the festival games,” she replies innocently.

Toru stares at her carefully, as if he's trying to decide whether to go along with her game.

“Fine,” he says. “I’ll play along. Just tell me what you want me to do?”

“Great!” Rei says gleefully. “Follow me and you’ll soon see.”

As we set off with Rei in the lead, I turn to Toru.

“I’m glad you seem to have recovered from yesterday,” I say. “I was worried.”

“That won’t keep me down,” he replies cheerfully. “I’m used to it by now, and it doesn’t last too long.”

“Still,” I say. “It doesn’t look pleasant.”

“No,” he agrees. “But it’s not the worst thing that could happen.”

For some reason, I don’t get the feeling that he means having something in place of his asthma. He did have an EpiPen on hand so his reaction yesterday could probably have been much worse.

Our conversation is interrupted as we arrive at our destination. Rei stands proudly in front of a stall with a high striker game.

“Let’s see you hit the bell on this,” Rei says. “I had my eye on the prize, and I’ll need your help with this massive hammer.”

The hammer is indeed large, and Rei would definitely not have been able to use it with only her one hand.

“You have no shame,” Toru says with a laugh. “All I’m here for is to win things for you. Do I at least get something in return?”

“A snack from one of the stalls?” Rei answers.

He gave her a long look.

“A free lunch?” She suggests.

“Fine,” he says. “But I will hold you to that.”

Toru steps forward before saying over his shoulder, “You can at least pay for this as well.”

Rei hands over the fee while Toru takes hold of the hammer.

“Not as heavy as I thought,” I hear him mutter before swinging it up onto his shoulder.

“Here we go!” he says, heaving the hammer high into the air before slamming it down as hard as he can.

The bell on the high striker rings out loudly as the puck slams into it.

“Good job!” Rei shouts before rushing over to the stall.

“I’ll be taking that,” she said pointing at what looks to be a forest tapestry. It's very high quality compared to the other prizes and, from the dismayed look on the stall operators face, should have been much harder to win.

Did Toru break a rigged machine?

With Rei claiming her prize, I feel it's about time to head through to the auditorium to see the bands performance. I can’t miss Nanami’s solo.

“We should get going if we don’t want to miss the start of the performance,” I say to the two of them.

Toru nods and Rei begins to walk in that direction.

“Hopefully we can get some good seats,” she says.

When we arrive, I see that most of the seats are full. Looking around I do see a few places we can sit.

Rei is already heading to three open seats when I spot Hiraku and Iwao sitting near the back with an open seat between them.

Iwao sees me and waves me over. I look between the two groups, slightly torn about what to do. I did say I would get back to Iwao and Hiraku, but Rei and Toru are now waiting for me by the seats they’ve claimed.

I wave back to Iwao and mouth and apology as he wouldn’t be able to hear me anyway before making my way over to rejoin the other two. I can see that Iwao is somewhat disappointed by my choice, though he does quickly get back into his conversation with Hiraku.

As I take my seat, the band members begin to file out onto the stage. After taking their places, the music teacher comes out to introduce herself and the band. We all applaud politely once she finishes her speech.

She then turns to the band and transitions into the role of conductor for them. They begin to play. It’s the typical classical stuff, but they perform it very well. Everyone on stage gets a chance to shine during the performance.

As the first song comes to an end and the crowd finishes its applause, the band continues into more songs. These ones are livelier and more focused on individual instruments which gives individual musicians on the stage a much better chance to show off their talents than in the first song.

I don’t recognize most of them, but Saki and Chisato both put on an excellent performance. Finally, it is Nanami’s turn to take centre stage. As she starts her trumpet solo, it’s incredible how such a small girl is able to fill the hall with sound.

She’s excellent as well. The twists and turns in the music are wonderful. I don’t recognize the music, but that isn’t really surprising. The piece is filled with many high notes and, although it is difficult to see from here, her hand is a flurry of activity as she flies through a solo that almost seems to convey a set of lyrics to the crowd despite the lack of singers.

Once she finishes, there's another round of applause. I like to think that it’s more powerful than before, but it’s probably more my own excitement for my friend than anything else.

I look to either side and see that they were also very impressed by what they just heard. Maybe it’s not just in my head.

There are a few more performances before the music teacher once again addresses the crowd. It’s all just formalities. Thanking the crowd, congratulating the performers, and asking for support to help further the bands ability to help its students.

Once it’s all wrapped up, the audience slowly begins to disperse to catch one last chance at any stalls they might have missed during the day.
I drag Rei and Toru to the front where I’ve spotted Nanami talking to Cho.

“Well done,” I say as I reach them. “That was amazing Nanami.”

Nanami skips up to me and hits me with a massive hug. It's a repeat of my first morning in the dorms.

“You did make it,” she says. “I couldn’t see you in the crowd so I thought you might have missed it.”

“Of course I wouldn’t miss your solo. You probably couldn’t see me because of him,” I say jabbing Toru in the ribs.

I think I end up hurting myself more than him.

“It was a very good performance,” Rei says. “The whole thing was stronger than I remember, and you still managed to stand out.”

It looked like that statement really moved Nanami as it almost seems like she's about to cry.

I would have liked to say more, but our conversation is interrupted by a bunch of band members who want to drag Nanami away to a party of their own. She seems happy about the prospect, so we let her go.

Cho watches her go before turning to me. “I think I’m going to head to the track stands. Everyone is probably gathering there to watch the fireworks. Do you want to head down there now?”

Before I have the chance to respond, Rei cuts in. “We’ve still got something we need to do. We’ll need to be quick, but I think it’ll be done before the fireworks.”

I look between the two girls.

“If it’s something important then I’ve got to follow along,” I say and Rei and Toru beam in sync.

Cho shrugs. “Don’t let me get in the way of Disciplinary Committee business,” she says. “See you tomorrow.”

With Cho gone, it’s back to just the three of us. Rei quickly takes the lead and I follow, interested in what it is she wants to do. We make our way through the courtyard where a few stalls are still serving the odd customer.

I begin to realize where we’re headed as we approach the auxiliary building. It’s not long before we’re at the door of the Disciplinary Committee office.

“We’re back,” Rei calls as she enters the room.

I follow and I see that the room is indeed occupied.

Standing at the window looking outward is Giichi.

He turns towards us and nods.

“Nothing to report,” Rei says with only a slightly serious tone in her voice. Toru just gives Giichi a thumbs up.

“Good, I haven’t spotted any issues either,” he says.

Looking around him, I see that there's a table and chair pulled up against one of the windows. There are also some empty takeaway boxes and a pair of binoculars.

At first that seems a bit weird, but then I realize what he's doing here.

He probably hasn’t been outside all day. Looking down on all the activities from above from where he's safe from the pushing and jostling. What had at first seemed creepy, now just seems sad.

Without his escort, he's just been sitting up here observing everything from a distance. Trying to use his height overlooking the crowds to spot any disturbances.

“How’s the day been for you?” I ask hesitantly.

I don’t really know what to say besides that.

Giichi turns to me sharply, as if he didn't really expected me to be here. Had I really escaped his notice until I spoke up?

“It’s been a successful day,” he responds. “Better than last year. With so many activities and food stalls, nobody had to worry about getting bored.”

Maybe he's avoiding my question on purpose? He has always been able to read my mind before.

“Well, I had lots of fun too,” Rei says heading towards Giichi. “I think you should try this though. It’s delicious.”

She then thrusts the bottle of hot sauce into his face, with the label hidden against her palm.

Giichi raises his eyebrow.

“I think that would be a terrible idea Rei,” he replies. “You’ll have to try harder than that to get me to try one of your hot sauces.”

Back to the mind reading. Who would guess that there would be hot sauce at a school festival?

“She got me to break some games too,” Toru adds.

Apparently I was right about what had happened with the high striker.

“I’m glad to see you’ve been taking your duties so seriously,” Giichi replies.

While he seems to be reprimanding them, the tone of his voice suggests that he isn’t really being serious, and they know that based on their behaviour.

He may have spent the whole day on duty, but he doesn’t expect others to when they have the opportunity to have some fun.

“You on the other hand,” he says focusing on me. “Should not be distracting my subordinates from their duties.”

Now I gulp as the frosty tone returns to his voice. The other two also seem unsure about whether he's being serious.

“She really wasn’t,” Toru says.

“She was a great help,” Rei adds.

Giichi seems to go into deep thought now.

“I suppose so,” he says. “It didn’t look like you were causing any trouble anyway.”

So, he has been watching us as well?

Rei chuckles at this. “You not allowed to get me back when my plan for you failed.”

“But you tried to trick me,” Giichi replies. “And intent is almost as bad. You got what you deserved.”

Wow. His deadpan nature really allows him to mess with people on things like this.

“Anyway,” he says turning back to me. “I’m afraid non-committee members are not allowed to make use of our office.”

Is he really about to kick me out right before the end of the festival?

“You’ll need to complete this or go join the rest of students out on the school grounds,” he continues.

He closes the distance between us quickly and I take a step back. In his outstretched hand is a form of some sort.

I take it and look closer. It’s an application to join the Disciplinary Committee. I look back up, but Giichi is already walking back over to his desk. It looks like he’s getting a pen.

He doesn’t seem to want to give me a choice in the matter.

“You’re asking me to join the committee?” I ask him.

Rei gives a soft whoop and Toru breaks out into a massive smile.

“Yes,” Giichi responds. “I think you’d make a good fit.”

That's a blunt explanation.

“Why?” I ask.

Giichi rolls his eyes. It’s probably the most expressive thing I’ve seen from him.

“You’re looking for a club to join, you’ve shown you want to help out, and you get along well with everyone here. It’s a perfect fit,” he says.

That’s a surprising response from him despite the curt delivery. He seems to include himself in the statement.

“As the newest member, you’ll also have the least responsibilities,” Toru says.

“And you can hang out here whenever you want,” Rei adds. “We’ve got aircon and summer can get very hot.”

They’re both clearly on board with the plan to recruit me and are throwing whatever benefits they can think of my way.

“You can sign or leave,” Giichi says, having returned with the pen. “I’m taking these two on patrol now and I will have to enforce the rules they decided to ignore today.”

I don’t seem to have much a choice in this matter.

“Fine,” I say taking the pen and signing the form that Giichi has, somehow, already filled out for me.

The other two break out into a round of applause once I hand the from back to Giichi and he stamps it.

“Excellent,” he says. “Now let’s get going.”

---

For once, Giichi takes the lead of our little group. I suppose there’s no reason not to. The grounds really are empty now.

He guides us into the main building, and I wonder if we’re going to miss the fireworks.

As we climb the stairs, I realize where we’re headed.

We reach the door onto the roof and Giichi pauses for a moment.

“They never lock the door, and the no entry sign has long been missing.” He says this mostly for my benefit, I think. “That means we need to check that no one is on the roof. It’s dangerous for students or visitors to be up here.”

I think I realize where Giichi was going with this.

“We get to kick everyone off the roof and have it all to ourselves,” I say.

Giichi looks at me sharply.

“No,” he begins to explain. “We kick everyone we can see of the roof and then we thoroughly search the roof for anyone trying to hide from us.”

I see how he thinks. Follow the rules in a way that gets you what you want. He really is a sneaky one.

We head out onto the roof and look around quickly. There doesn’t appear to be anyone up here.

Giichi leads us further out onto the roof, and I start to see a silhouette ahead of us in the darkness.

As we approach, I realize that it’s a student. He’s got extremely thick glasses on, and an empty bottle lies at his feet. From the slurred, almost incomprehensible speech, it seems like he’s been drinking.

“Toru,” Giichi says. “Please show Kenji the door.”

Apparently, they know who this boy is.

Toru marches over to the slumped figure and hoists him to his feet. At first there’s a shriek at what must be a rather sobering experience, then there’s a hushed exchange of words before Toru drags Kenji towards the door and shoves him through it.

He returns to us and hands the bottle over to Giichi.

He sighs. “We’ll have to have a word with him tomorrow.”

“Forget about that,” Rei says. “It’s almost time. Let’s enjoy the show.”

Giichi nods. There’s no need to keep up our cover story. With no one around and all of us knowing the official story for our presence, we can relax and have a bit of fun to end the night.

The three of us head over to the railing and look out across the school. We can see the rest of the students as well as some visitors crowded down at the track. Some of the noise reaches us, but it nearly silent.

Suddenly, lights are streaking up into the air. Only a few at first, but soon their numbers grow. They soar high above us and explode into huge bursts of colour.

Green, red, blue, gold.

The sky is filled with dancing lights of all colours, illuminating the entire school below. Cheering drifts up to us, but we remain silent.

The display is enthralling.

It lasts for several minutes until the pace slows down. When we are once again staring out into darkness, a lone rocket shoots high into the air. The final golden explosion dwarfs everything that came before it.

Again, we are plunged into darkness as the fireworks show comes to an end. It truly was a spectacular way to end the day’s festivities.

Toru steps back from the railing, a content look on his face. He steps over to me and ruffles my hair.

Despite being two years younger than me, I don’t mind it as it just suits him.

“I’m glad to have you on board,” he says before nodding to the other two and striding off towards the door.

“We’re going to have a lot of fun together,’ Rei says with fire in her eyes as she gives me a one-armed hug.

A quick wave to Giichi and she marches off in the same direction as Toru.

Finally, Giichi turns to me and reaches out for a handshake. That’s exactly what I expected from him.

“Welcome to the team,” he says as I take his hand.

His grip is firm enough.

I nod. There isn’t really anything to say.

Giichi turns away and returns to the railing to watch over everyone as they begin to disperse for the night.

With the night over for me as well, I head for the door as well.

Before walking through, I glance back to see the silhouette of our Chairman as he stares out at the school as if it’s his own kingdom.

I head down the stairs with that image stuck in my head.

I have a feeling that my choices tonight are going to have an interesting impact on the rest of my time at Yamaku.

---

< Previous Chapter - Next Chapter >

I like it so far!

There's a ton of untapped potential for stories at Yamaku, and seeing more of one of the other classes is a great way to do it.

The disciplinary committee is an especially interesting addition.

Looking forward to more!

I'm not completely done with reading, but I like what I've seen so far.
You have made some interesting characters, but you haven't rushed to info-dump all their histories on us from the start. You're kkeping up a nice pacing, and interesting stuff keeps happening - maybe almost a bit too much for just a few days...

The biggest problem so far is tenses: Most of the story is written in present tenst, but you sometimes switch to past within a single sentence. Here are some examples (but there are more throughout):

Namami is the complete opposite of Cho. She’s short and has curly brown hair. Her face has a slight tan and is covered in freckles. It’s also clear why she’s here. While nothing looked out of place with Cho. Nanami was missing her left hand.

Where the wrist should have been, there was nothing. It apparently didn’t bother her either as she didn’t try to hide it.

“I hope we get on well together,” Cho continues. “If you ever need anything, let us know and we’d be happy to lend a hand.”

A huge smile spread across her face as she said that. I was shocked. How could she say that?

I quickly spun back to Nanami, and my shock turned to confusion. She was clearly trying her hardest not to burst out laughing.

...

He’s still sitting up as straight as was possible, but he’s deeply engrossed in the work he was doing. No-one was working with him.

Besides that nothing much to criticize. Some typos and random thoughts I had while reading:

Halfway along, I’m met with a peculiar site sight.

Does he really have to make things that difficult? For someone so focused on correct procedure, there’s an awful lot of red tape in dealing with him.

I'd think a lot of red tape is typical for people who focus on correct procedure...

"...There’s someone I’d like you to meet when their they're done.”

He defiantly definitely saw us,

“You know how this school’s procedures work,” Giichi continues. “We will look into this matter first. You can then look at the conclusions we reach. If you have any issues with them, we can then discuss them.”

I know Japanese schools value student independence, but outright telling a teacher not to interfere is stretching it quite a bit... After all it is the school who is ultimately responsible.

it’s good that you we’re were able to catch the whole thing.”

I take my place between Cho and Nanami just as Miyagi enters the room. There won’t be any time for talking until after school.

I don't think you introduced Miyagi before this point...

“But I can defiantly definitely see Toru doing it for him.

and nobody picked it up on it for a long time.

Thanks for giving it a read. I'm glad that you're enjoying it.

More thanks for pointing out some of the issues you've found. I've tried to proof it and did find many issues while doing so. I suppose some will always slip through. The sudden changes in tense are just something I'll have to work on.

For issues such as not introducing Miyagi, I felt that it would make less sense to have a full introduction for her. She already exists as a character in Katawa Shoujo and, in my head, Hatsumi had already interacted with her earlier in the week. It's likely that I'll mention more things that weren't covered before as the story continues. The chapters will not cover each and every day and things will happen in between them. I want it to go into the important things in detail, but I also want to show that other things are happing around the story I'm telling. I'll try to be careful not to have these add-ins be important to the plot, but I'd also like to build around the plot as well.

In regards the power of the Disciplinary Committee, the school doesn't like the power they have. I'll be covering it later in the story, but the school has decided to wait until they can retake control rather than risk going down the nuclear route over what happened to lead to the current situation.

Status Update

I didn’t have to wait for my alarm clock this morning. Despite the lateness of the end of the festival, I’m full of energy and ready for the new week. How much of that is due to me not really being involved in the planning stages is up for debate as the dorms are much quieter than usual.
Heading down past the common room and over to the cafeteria, I can see that most people are not in the same boat as me.

I hardly see anyone and those that are up do not look like they want to be. All of this leads to a quiet breakfast as I don’t recognise any of the handful of students there.

Since there’s still a bit of time left before class, I decide to just wander the grounds and take in the cool morning air. It’s impressive how much of the festival has already been cleared away. There are no complete stalls left, but, here and there, I do see a few boxes and bags full of things that still need to be thrown away. It won’t be long before there’s no trace that the festival ever happened.

Looking around, I think about the tall trees and the well-maintained grass. Those things made me feel anxious on my first day, as if there was something wrong with them. I don’t feel that anymore. It would probably be better if more schools tried to do the same thing.

A beautiful environment like this can do wonders to help you enjoy your time here.

More and more students have begun to appear as they head towards the main building. I decide that it’s probably time to join them on their way to class.

As I get there, I see that my time wandering means that I’m one of the later students to get there. If a few have decided to skip class, then I may in fact be the last to arrive.

Before I can head over to my desk, I see that Giichi is waving me over. I suppose he is technically my boss now and he might have work for me.

So much for giving me an easy time, I guess.

“Morning Hatsumi,” he says. “These are for you.”

He motions to two books sitting on the desk in front of him. One is small with a blank cover that could probably fit in my pocket. The other is much larger and very thick. Written in bold on it are the intimidating words ‘Disciplinary Guidelines’.

“This one is pretty self-explanatory,” Giichi continues. “I don’t expect you to know all of it any time soon, but it would be good to start going through it slowly. The handbook is the important one for now. It’s filled with most possible infractions and how they are to be handled. Don’t expect to get a comprehensive answer out of it, but it is vital when you’re on the go.”

With that explanation, Giichi hands me the little book which I slide into my jacket pocket. The guidelines are another matter. I’ll want to get that back to my room as soon as possible to avoid all of that extra weight in my bag.

"You'll also need this key if you want to get into the Disciplinary Committee office when no-one is there," he says as he hands a small bronze key over. "Make sure you don't lose it."

I haven’t been able to get a word in so far, but it already seems as if the conversation is over, so I simply nod before picking the book up off his desk and turning to leave. He doesn’t seem to have a problem with this, so I continue on my way.

When I do reach my desk and drop it down. I can see that Cho and Nanami have questions. I don’t really blame them, and I don’t mind answering this time either. It’s something that deserves to be addressed.

Cho eyes the book on my desk before speaking up.

“You joined the Disciplinary Committee?” She asks slowly. “That is not a turn that I saw coming.”

“That’s great!” Nanami says with much more excitement. “You found a club to join.”

“Yes, I did end up joining. It honestly just sort of happened,” I explained. “I was hanging out with all of them over the past week and they decided to bring me on board last night.”

“Really?” Cho said. “You hung out with all of them?”

I could tell what she was getting at.

“Yes. Someone was always there to bridge the gap with him, but he honestly seems like a nice guy, once you get the chance to look past his boundaries.”

I wasn’t going to say I had gotten past them yet, but I could definitely see over the walls he'd built around him now.

“Well, I think it’s a great turn of events,” Nanami continues. “I didn’t think we’d get someone on the Committee, but you actually did it. Things might be changing around here from now on.”

I don’t know what she expects from me and I’m not sure how things should be changed, but Nanami’s positivity is always a sight to behold. It only adds to my own for the day ahead.

As Kubo enters the class, it’s clear that he’s not on the same page as the rest of the class and that draws a groan from the more tired members. He’s full of his usually energy as he slams the door open and marches into the classroom.

“Good morning everyone,” he booms. “I hope you had a wonderful festival and are ready for the week ahead.”

It’s obvious that most of the class is not, but he doesn’t seem to mind. He calls for textbooks to be opened and begins to write on the board as the class slowly moves into action. There may be some consideration for this as I realize that he isn’t moving quite as fast as usual as the lesson goes on.

He seems to understand that not everyone would be able to keep up with his usual energy. A busy weekend is no excuse to fall behind on schoolwork and I can appreciate his work ethic even if the rest of the class might not. The work isn’t new either so there won’t be any chance of missing out on any important new concepts.

When the bell does ring for lunch, Kubo signals for me to come over. He probably wants to discuss my new appointment.

“I’m glad to see that you’ve joined the Disciplinary Committee,” he booms.

I can once again hear, but not see his excitement. It’s also noticable from his volume that everyone in the class now knows as well. I see surprised looks from some of the students and even applause from a few of them. I don’t really mind the revelation as I’m sure they would all have found out soon anyway.

“It’s the last place I expected you to end up,” Kubo continues. “But I’m sure you’ll do well with them. It'll also look great on your CV.”

He’s clearly looking out for my future and brings up a point I hadn’t thought of. I had never really stood out before and had very little to brag about in terms of achievements. This would be something to boost my credentials when I apply to university.

“It was a surprise to me to, Sir” I respond. “But I think I’m going to enjoy it.”

“That’s great,” Kubo says. “Now get going. I don’t want to keep you from your duties."

He really must have high hopes for me, though I don’t intend to get too involved in disciplinary duties until I fully understand what those duties are.

I join the stream of students heading out the door after I see that Giichi seems to show no interest in moving or engaging with anyone. He also has his own food while I don’t, so I wouldn’t be able to stay anyway.

When I reach the cafeteria, I look around for someone to sit with. I do have a few options which makes it a bit harder to decide. In the end it’s the massive form of Toru that draws my attention.

That makes sense I suppose.

“Hey Toru,” I say, and he looks up at me.

“Hello Hatsumi,” he responds, smiling. “Want to join me for lunch on your first day on the Committee?”

“I’ll be right there,” I say as I head over to get some food. He was sitting alone which was part of the reason I chose to join him. I wonder what contributes the most to that. His size, the Disciplinary Committee, or the fact that he’s a foreigner? None of them probably help.

Once I make it back, I take a seat opposite him and begin to eat as I think about what to say.

“You’ve got the books?” He asks.

“Yeah. The one is massive though,” I say.

“I know it’s a lot, but don’t hesitate to ask if you need any help understanding any of it. We don’t know it as well as Giichi, but we can probably help you through it,” he says reassuringly.

Its nice that he’s so ready to help, but I don’t want to be too much of a burden. I may be new to the committee and the school, but I am still a third year. I’ll try to figure things out as much as I can before turning to them.

“I’ll let you know if I need any help,” I tell him. “I’m sure I’ll need it at some point.

He nods before continuing. “Want to come with me after school? I need to visit the post office to collect something.”

So there's a post office nearby? It might be handy to know where it is if I ever need to make use of it.

“Sure,” I say. “I’ll help you carry your package if it’s too heavy for you.”

Toru laughs at the idea of this before he responds.
“I’m sure you can,” he says before the laughter returns.

It really is easy to amuse him.

“But I'll have to stop off by the nurse before that,” I say more seriously. “He wants to have a weekly checkup and I don’t want to keep him waiting.

“Makes sense,” Toru replies. “Meet me at the Committee meeting room when you’re done with him.”

He doesn’t really sound concerned. I guess checkups are a regular thing around here.

---

Once we finish lunch, we each head off to our own classes. Science is next and I’m not surprised to see that Mutou isn’t here yet. It also looks like we’ve lost a few people during lunch. The day must have hit them hard.

When Mutou does finally arrive, he looks even worse than usual. How can one man be so tired? How can he look more tired that he usually does?

Amazingly, that doesn’t stop him from singling me out. He’s somehow more aware of things going on around him than usual. I guess the staff were told about the addition this morning.

“Congratulations on joining the Disciplinary Committee,” he says. “I hope that you can have a positive effect on them.”

He clearly remembers the events of last week and wants me to help temper the aggression that he faced. I want to help the seemingly desperate man, but I think he’s overestimating the sway I have over the rest of the Committee.

“I’ll do my best to be of use Sir,” I say with as much confidence as possible. It seems to work on him because he nods and gives a relieved smile.

“Good,” he says. “Well, head over to your desk then. I hope you enjoy the lesson.”

That would be a wonderful outcome, but I’m not sure how possible it is with him and the class in the state that they are.

As he begins the lesson, I see that it won’t be as bad as it could be. He’s not introducing any new concepts, but rather simply going over what we had been covering last week. It’s actually quite useful as it allows me to catch up on the work. I had struggled being dumped in the middle of a concept when I arrived, and the recap allows me to fill in the missing blanks.

I even begin to enjoy the lessons now that I’m not so lost. I still prefer Kubo’s style of teaching, but it looks like Mutou might still be able to redeem himself.

The rest of the lesson and the day goes by without too much trouble, and I excuse myself quickly when the last lesson ends. I don’t want to keep any of my appointments waiting longer than I need to.

This time I don’t head past the head nurse’s door when I arrive in the auxiliary building. It’s kind of strange not to head up to the second floor. My knock on the door is quickly answered by a call to enter. Looks like I won’t be waiting this time.

“Afternoon, Hatsumi,” Nurse calls out as I enter. “It’s good to see you looking so well. I’m also glad to see you’ve really taken my advice of getting involved to heart.”

Makes sense that he’d know already. Not only is he a member of staff, but he’s also sure to know what’s going on in the building we now share.

“Yes Nurse. I’m making the most of my time here,” I say.

That’s not really why I’m doing it, but it seems like the right thing to say in the moment. It might help push the conversation along as I don’t really want to spend too much time on this.

“Good,” the nurse replies, having accepted my answer. “Let’s move on to why I wanted you here. How has the week been in terms of your seizures?”

That's a very blunt change of topic.

“It’s been okay,” I answer. “I haven’t had any serious problems since I got here.”

“That’s a start,” he says. “But how many seizures have you had? Can I see your records?”

I dig into my bag knowing that I was going to have to share them with him. There aren’t too many written down, but I know that I will have missed some.

The nurse looks at the first page of my notebook. There are four entries. The most recent on Saturday evening. It doesn’t seem that bad to me.

“Well, it’s good that they aren’t causing you any issues,” Nurse says. “But I honestly don’t like that there are even this many written down. It probably means that there are more, and that the medication isn’t working as well as I'd hoped it would.”

This statement might have been more upsetting if I hadn’t already been filled in on how this all works by the doctor before I came here. Everyone responds differently to different doses of different medications. We would have to work through them trying various options until it we found one that worked for me. It was all trial and error and, as long as my seizures didn’t become suddenly worse, that wasn’t really a problem.

“I don’t want to try changing the medication yet, but I would like to increase the dosage,” he continues. “Just give me a moment to write it down.”

I sit and wait as he pulls out a notepad and scribbles out his recommendations. Once he hands it over, he continues speaking.

“As you can see there, I’ve increased the number of a few of the pills you’re taking. It will hopefully stabilize your situation, but I’m sure it won’t cause any serious side effects which is even more important at the moment.”

I had to agree with him on that. I’d seen the lists of things that some of these medications could do to you, and I’d much rather deal with the occasional seizure than any of those side effects.

“Unless there’s anything else you want to discuss, then you’re free to go,” Nurse says. “Don’t hesitate to come by if anything develops and keep checking in as you’ve been doing so far.”

“I will,” I say, as I stand up and head over to the door. “Thank you for the help.”

“It’s what I’m here for,” he replies with a smile.

---

When I arrive at the Committee office, I see that I’m the only one there. I suppose the others don’t really have to be here unless they have work to do, so I might as well let myself in and look around until Toru arrives.

Nothing in the room looks too interesting from a distance. Just shelves of files and plain covered books. The files were obviously to do with student records. It really does look like there is one for every student in the school.

I notice that they are locked behind glass doors that don't look as if I'd be able to open with my key. Maybe Giichi is the only one with keys to those?

On another bookshelf filled with those thick plain books, I discover what seem to be law books. Pulling a few of them out I see that some of them were similar to the guidelines book. These however are not related to the school. Theyre law books of all kinds. Constitutional law and criminal law stand out to me.

These must belong to Giichi then. The slightly thinner books were case files. It seems as if Giichi was already studying law. It really is clear what path he will be taking in the future.

“Hatsumi,” Toru calls out behind me.

I jump at that.

He gives another short laugh while looking at what I was doing.

“He’ll love that you’re interested in all of that. It’s probably his greatest passion,” Toru says.

It's weird to think about Giichi and passion in the same sentence, but I decide to move on quickly.

“Just looking around while I wait. It’s time I get to know this place properly,” I say.

“You’ll have plenty of time to do that as the year goes on,” he replies. “Let’s leave that for now and get going. The post office doesn’t stay open forever.”

This statement gets me moving and I head over towards Toru as he steps back out through the office door.

He leads the way until we get outside. He has to, as we would block the whole hallway otherwise. Once we do make it out into the school grounds, I can move next to him and start up a conversation.

“So how far is it to the post office?” I ask.

“I’d say it's about forty minutes,” he responds. “Thirty if we push it.”

“Let’s not,” I say, thinking that I won’t survive a walk that long at the pace I’ve seen him move.

“Sure thing,” he answers.

As we reach the gate, where he pulls his face mask out and puts it on.

He’s not going to take the risk of having another attack.

“How are you fine on campus?” I ask. “We’ve got plenty of trees all over the place.”

“The wide, open areas help,” he says. “It’s also not as bad when you’re used to the environment. There’s still some risk, but the attacks aren’t usually that bad. I’m not so used to everything that might be floating around in the town.”

That makes things slightly easier for him, I guess. We’re sort of similar in that way then. Fine at school, but we need to watch out when we go out somewhere else.

“So, what are we off to collect from the post office?” I ask, not really wanting to stick to the topic of our problems. “Can’t most stuff be delivered to the school?”

“Letters and small envelopes can, but if something comes in a box, then you’ll have to go get it yourself,” he answers. “My parents have sent me something again.”

While I can’t see it, I can hear that he probably grimaces at that statement.

He clearly isn’t happy about it.

“Where do they stay?” I ask, interested to learn more about Toru’s background.

“Right now? I honestly have no idea,” he answers. “They travel a lot, so they could be anywhere in the world.”

That was surprising.

“How often do they do that?” I ask.

“All the time. Japan is just their ‘home base’,” he says. “They really like it here, so they always come back, but most of their time is spent travelling for work.”

Toru sounds rather resigned about the issue. As if its something that has been going on for a long time. I’m not sure how I’d feel if I was in his position.

“And what do they do for a living?” I ask, interested to find out what keeps them away so much.

Toru hesitates for a moment, as if he’s not sure whether he wants to talk about it and I’m about to take my question back when he continues.

“Father is into private security. He works with big companies all over the world to provide security measures and training. Mother develops perfumes.”

That final short description hides plenty of unsaid feelings. Her life can't be very compatible with his and I'm sure they must struggle to share in it.

“That must make things quite difficult,” I say.

His asthma doesn’t really suit his family’s lifestyle.

“It has it’s troubles,” he says. “But since it wouldn’t work for me, I ended up at places like this and they’re pretty good as well.”

Toru always manages to put a positive spin on things.

“So how did you end up here?” I decide to ask.

Maybe it will help explain his unique looks.

“Where should I start?” He asks, looking down at me.

“At the beginning,” I respond. “With all of this.”

I wave my hand around to indicate his appearance and he seems to get the idea.

“Well, my parents are South African,” he starts.

That was not something I expected him to say. He clearly wasn’t American, but I’d expected some European country instead.

“There's nothing really special about how my parents met, but my father was in the army. Once he finished serving, he found that ex-soldiers were in high demand for their skills. Mother travelled with him and she’s the one who fell in love with Japan. They decided that this would be their new home and they brought me over five years ago.”

So, he’d grown up overseas. That explained the accent, but I was impressed by how well he’d learnt to speak Japanese in only five years.

“Where would you prefer staying?” I ask.

“Here,” he says firmly. “Dealing with the outdoors isn’t my strong suit and that wasn’t taken nearly as well there as it is here.”

“Could they really do anything to you though?” I say, looking him up and down.

“I wasn’t always so big,” he says. “And there are plenty of large boys where I grew up. Boarding schools there are tough and old fashioned. Sort of like the military, which is exactly what father wanted.”

All of that sounds like a rather harsh upbringing and I can now see why he’s not necessarily happy about getting gifts from his parents.

“Well now that you’re here, you’re one of the decision makers of the school.” I say that because it really does sound like the Committee has a say in how the school runs things.“You get to decide how things go around here.”

“That I do,” he says lightly.

---

When we finally arrive at the post office, I see that it’s a tiny place. It looks as if it might just be a single room with a house above it. This place obviously doesn’t get much post even if the people here are mostly older.

We head inside and are greeted by a lone man sitting behind a desk staring into space. He slowly stirs at the sight of us and gets to his feet.

“What will it be?” He says, equally slowly.

“Here to collect a package,” Toru says as he steps towards the counter and presents a ticket to the man.

He takes it and examines it carefully before turning and heading back to a door. There must be a storeroom back there.

“Be back in a moment,” he calls out as he leaves.

You wouldn’t really know that it was a post office if it wasn’t for the sign outside. The only things in the room are the desk in front of us and a few chairs off to either side.

Luckily, there isn’t much need for things to keep us entertained as the man is soon back. The box is wrapped in tape and covered in stickers but is small enough that you could probably carry it under one arm. The man places it on the table before pulling a clip board out and placing it in front of Toru.

“Please sign here,” he says, slowly tapping at the bottom of a list of signatures already on the sheet.

Toru does so before taking the package and turning to me.

“Thank you for your patronage,” the man says as he stares blankly at the two of us.

I nod back at him to give him some form of acknowledgement.

Toru is already heading for the door, and I quickly follow him out onto the main street.

“Shall we go get something to eat,” he asks me. “Maybe some tea. I won’t be paying though.”

I wouldn’t mind that, but I don’t really know where we’d go, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to take him to High Tea so it will have to be up to him.

“Lead the way,” I say.

---

We soon arrive at what looks to be a café.

It’s called the Shanghai, but I don’t see any theme to it.

Just a regular café.

We head inside and I jump as someone lets out a small squeak of fright. Looking around I see the source of the sound. It’s Yuuko in an apron. She seems to have been spooked by the sight of Toru coming into the cafe.

“Yuuko? What are you doing here?” I ask.

She turns to me, and I see a faint light of recognition in her eyes. It quickly disappears as her expression turns to one of confusion and stress as she tries to remember my name. She’s clearly failing to do so.

“Yuuko,” Toru begins. “How about you let Hatsumi and me find a seat and give us a few minutes to decide what we want?”

That was a nice save for the clearly flustered woman.

“Yes, yes. Whatever you want,” she replies. “Sit anywhere you want. We’re not that busy. I’ll be back soon.”

With that, she rushes off. It’s an almost identical scene to how we last met. She doesn’t seem to handle exiting a conversation very well.

“Why don’t you choose a table?” Toru says as he watches Yuuko rushing across the café.

I look around and quickly settle on a table halfway along the front of the shop next to a window. We’ll be able to see the whole shop and the street outside from there.

“You mind explaining what’s going on here?” I ask Toru.

“Yuuko has more than one job,” he replies. "They’re all part time, so she has a few to make ends meet.”

That surprises me. Normally a librarian would also serve as a teacher, but I guess it doesn’t work like that at Yamaku. It can’t be pleasant having to run from job to job to make a living.

“I don’t think she’d handle teaching very well, so this probably suits her better,” Toru says, apparently answering my thought.

“Is there a menu here?” I ask him, looking around.

I can’t make out any, even up on the wall somewhere.

“I don’t think so,” Toru responds, smiling. “I wouldn’t ask either. Don’t want to cause any trouble. Just order something simple and they’ll probably have it.”

I think about that idea as Yuuko comes over. She’s calmed down, but still seems to be slightly on edge. It seems as if that’s just her life.

“What would you like to order,” she manages to say without stammering.

“I’ll have some tea,” I say. “And a sandwich as well.”

She doesn’t ask what kind of sandwich I’d like but there probably isn’t anything they’d have that I wouldn’t want.

“I’ll have tea as well. And a slice of chocolate cake,” Toru says.

Yuuko bobs her head before answering, “I’ll be right back with your orders.”

She sets off again and leaves us to our conversation as we wait for the food. Toru decides the direction of the conversation now and it seems that he wants to discuss duties surrounding the Disciplinary Committee.

“Now that you’re on the committee, I’m afraid that you’re going to have to be on your best behaviour at all times,” he says. “There isn’t anything that distinguishes you as a member, but students will get to know who you are as time goes by.”

That is a sudden topic change, but I am grateful that someone is going to go through the basics with me. I’d rather not just rely on those books to tell me what to do.

“Being well behaved is really the most important part,” he continues. “Do that and make a note of anything you think might break school rules. We can all go over it at a later time.”

“So, I don’t have to intervene then?” I ask.

“Sure you can tell them off, but we mostly deal with punishments rather than prevention. It’s usually teachers who tell students off. It doesn’t usually work so well when a student tries to do it.”

I suppose I wouldn’t want to listen to another student telling me what to do. Toru might be able to do it. He would be quite intimidating in a confrontation, but I don’t think I’d get the same results as he would.

“We also have an official meeting on Friday afternoons to discuss the issues of the week, but we’ll also meet whenever something serious happens or if we’re all together anyway,” he says.

I’ll need to remember to be there for those, even though it sounds like they’re pretty informal about how they run their meetings.

Yuuko returns with our orders and carefully places them in front of each of us. She’s clearly worried about spilling our drinks, but she manages not to.

“I hope you enjoy your meal,” she says with a bow that almost sends her head crashing into the table before she once again scurries away.

The food looks quite nice for a café. Toru’s slice of cake is huge, though I’m not sure whether that’s the normal serving size or if Yuuko has taken the liberty of upsizing it. My sandwich is neatly sliced into triangles and looks perfectly put together. I see some lettuce and tomatoes and what looks to be ham. The tea came in cups and already has milk in it. I suppose I shouldn’t expect the same experience I had with Cho and Nanami.

The two of us start to eat.

---

The whole thing was quite pleasant, and the quietness of the café means that it was peaceful as well. We each pay for our own meals, and I’m surprised by how reasonable the cost is.

“There’s a reason it’s a popular spot for students,” Toru comments. “It’s more affordable than most places.”

I suppose that's a good benefit, but I’m not sure I like not being able to look at a menu.

We set off on the journey back to school and the coolness of the late afternoon makes the climb up the hill far more bearable. We’re through the gates in what feels like a far shorter time that it took to get into town.

It’s somewhat of a surprise when we see Rei coming out of the auxiliary building just as we’re about to pass it. She waves out and we stop to wait for her to catch up. She strides over, looking us up and down.

“Been to the post office?” She asks.

“Yeah. Parents sending more stuff,” Toru responds.

“And I see that you’re getting to know your new committee members,” she says to me, smiling. “Glad to see that.”

No formalities then. I don’t think there’s a need for them with her.

“Bumped into him and things just sort of went from there,” I answer.

Rei nods sagely before continuing. “Hope you’ll be as useful for me as well. Toru needs the least help out of anyone.”

That’s not entirely true. He needs someone to watch out for him, but I get the meaning behind Rei’s statement.

“I’ll be sure to share my time with all of you fairly,” I respond. “Don’t worry about me playing favourites.”

“If that’s the case, I think I’ll join you,” she says. “Once Toru is done with you, I think I’ll be able to find something else for you to do.”

I get the impression that it won’t be anything serious, but it will be nice to have some fun for a bit longer.

The apathetic state of class today meant that there isn’t any work I need to do this evening.

“Well, let’s get going,” Rei says after the pause. “That package has a destination to get to.”

Rei doesn’t seem content with just tagging along. She's going to take over and decide what we're going to do. Even if we would have done the same thing anyway.

She apparently knows where in the dorms Toru stays as she doesn’t wait for him to lead the way as she sets off down the pathway.

“Best do what she says,” Toru tells me and the two of us jog after her to catch up. Once we do reach her, we settle in on each side.

I see that the boys' dorm common room is busy now, which makes sense for the time. Clubs and sports practices will have finished by now.

Rei leads us up a single floor and down the passages to what must be Toru’s room. It’s a somewhat pleasant thing not to have to go up as many stairs as I’ve had to for my own room.

“Open up,” she says as we reach his room. “I’ll hold the package.”

Toru hands it over and quickly unlocks the door before leading us inside. I’m met by a room that has been far better decorated than any I’ve seen so far.

There are posters all over the room. They’re from various movies and games. I can’t really make out a specific theme. It’s a complete variety.
There are also a lot more shelves than I expected, each filled with figures and models.

These aren’t the typical figures you’d find in stores though, since they don’t look like they came from any anime or manga. They're all highly detailed and looked extremely lifelike, even if a lot of them were of a fantasy or sci-fi origin.

On Toru’s desk are several more models. These lack the colours of those that were on display. Around them were several brushes as well as bottles of what looks like paint.

“You paint your own models?” I ask Toru in shock. “These look amazing.”

“Yeah. It’s more fun to make my own designs than rely on what is done for you,” he says. “Each one can be made exactly how you want it to be.”

It really is impressive. I walk over and look at what seems to be lots of futuristic soldiers set out as if their charging into battle. I can’t say that I’d want them myself, but I can appreciate all the tiny details that Toru must have painted on to the figures. They’re outfits somehow manage to look worn and well-used.

“He’s somewhat of a collector,” Rei says. “It’s just a pity that no-one else here seems to share the hobby. Supposedly you can even have massive battles between sets.”

Toru smiles somewhat sheepishly.

“I don't really have many chances to try that side of it,” he says. “It looks fun, but I’m not sure how well I’d do against someone with more experience.”

“It far to expensive to get involved in it now,” Rei adds. “You need years to build up a collection if you aren’t monumentally rich, so it doesn't look like that will change anytime soon.”

Toru shrugs. He seems resigned to that fact.

“So, you want to get rid of any of that stuff,” Rei says, nodding towards the box Toru is carrying. “Unless it’s something useful for once?”

It seems that she has some idea of what Toru might have been sent as well as a similar low opinion of what it might be.

“Might as well,” Toru responds with a sigh. “It will definitely be another line of products.”

He opens the box up and pulls a bunch of bubble wrap out. Rei and I move closer to see what’s inside and we are greeted by the sight of a line of bottles with foreign writing on them.

I look up at Toru for answers.

“Perfumes,” he answers. “Mother always wants to show off her new products. Get me to give them to girls I like or whatever.”

That really is the saddest thing I’ve heard in a while. How can she behave that way towards him?

“I’ll take half,” Rei says, scooping some of the bottles out of the box. “They’re nice to use for special occasions and make great gifts.”

This statement seems mostly for my benefit. It’s probably to get me to take them off his hands as well. So, I look over at Toru and he nods for me to take them. Maybe I’ll be able to give a few to Cho and Nanami when I see them back at my own dorm.

“There. Now that that’s dealt with, I’m going to steal Hatsumi away from you,” Rei says. “You’ve had her for long enough so now it’s time for the two of us to get going.”

“I wouldn’t try to stop you,” he replies. “It’s probably time for the two of you to get going anyway. Wouldn’t want to spend your evening in the boys’ dorms. Would you?”

There’s a level of cheekiness to his comment that shows he really doesn’t mind what just happened. I suppose it is better to put them to use that just throw them away.

“See you again,” I say as I head out of the door.

“Bye,” Rei calls as she joins me.

“Good night,” Toru finishes as he closes the door.

---

“Let’s get going,” Rei says as she heads towards the stairs.

I follow her silently as I think about the interaction we just had. I suppose it could be seen as quite harsh of Rei to behave the way she does but, unless I’m missing something huge, I can’t say that I see it that way. She seems to be very blunt with people she considers friends, and I appreciated that last week. Maybe it’s the same for Toru.

“I’m glad we can head back to the dorm together,” Rei says. “It’s kind of unfair that I can find you, but you don’t know what room I’m in.”

I don’t really mind that. I could easily find her elsewhere. Our run in with her earlier proved that.

It is nice of her to think that way despite that.

When we made it back to the girls’ dorms, it turns out that she was on the second floor facing the opposite direction to my own room. She leads me in, and I'm greeted by another far more decorated room than my own.

The tapestry that she had won yesterday is already up on the wall sharing space with a number of other nature photographs and paintings. I knew that she liked the outdoors, but this is different to my own love of nature.

When I went out into the forest, it doesn’t come back with me. They're two separate worlds. This is completely different. You can look around the room and be in a completely different place with each turn. This wall a forest. That wall a sweeping meadow. Over there, a snowy mountain.

There were even a few plants lined up along the windowsill. Each a slightly different shade of green, with different coloured flowers to each other.

“It’s beautiful,” I say, looking around at the haven of wilderness Rei has crafted in her room.

“Thanks,” she responds proudly. “I really tried to bring it all with me.”

“You’ll need to help me with my room,” I say. “It’s completely blank. I need to know where you find all of this.”

“It’s not from around here, I’m afraid,” Rei replies, as she flops onto her bed. “When I go home during vacation, I can find new pieces. If you look in that drawer over there, you’ll find some of the older ones that don’t fit the collection anymore.

She points at the bottom drawer of her desk, and I look back to her for confirmation.

“Go ahead,” she says. “It would be better for someone else to appreciate them than they go to waste, just like these.”

She wiggles one of the perfume bottles at me and shoos me towards the drawer.

I slide it open and am met by the sight of a pile of photos and paintings. None of them are as high quality as the ones up on the wall, but they still manage to be quite beautiful. I flip through a few of them and see a somewhat familiar sight.

I can see that its not the same tree, but it is very reminiscent of the scene we saw on our walk into the forest. If anything, the central tree is even larger.

I pull it up and hold it up to get a better look at it.

Rei sits up to look at the picture I’m holding. She must recognise what I see in it because she gets up and comes over to me.

“I think that one will do very nicely,” she says with a smile. “Here, take a few of these pins with you as well.

She pulls open the draw and grabs a few pins for me to take. “Get that thing up on your wall and maybe we’ll find you some more to join it.”

“Thanks,” I say as I walk over to the door with my gifts. “See you tomorrow?”

“Probably,” Rei replies.

---

< Previous Chapter - Next Chapter >

So, I've caught up now. Main problem is still tenses; everything else is fine.
If you want you can send me a google doc link, and I will go over future chapters for proofreading.

A few more comments:

I see that the sun is only just peaking peeking up over the horizon.

As we all make our way back to the doom rooms, I say turn to Iwao to say goodbye.

“But if you pick a bottle and refuse to have a taste after you open it, then we keep the 10 000 Yen you put up as collateral. And don’t worry if you can’t pay, we keep a tab for students.”

This sounds like something the disciplinary committee should put an end to!
First of all 10000Yen is about 100€, and keeping tabs is encouraging students to go into debt. Might be a bit more reasonable if you drop a zero.
Second, forcing students to eat random stuff at a school where a good number of students have dietary restriction - and blind at that - is something that would never have been greenlit by either the school or the student council!

“The same again,” Rei said happily. “I can get those two with this.”

I guess she was planning a prank on the disciplinary committee.

“I’ll take the same again as well,” Rei said,

Seems like Rei picked up two prizes...

Nothing in the room looks too interesting from a distance. Just shelves of files and plain covered books. The files were obviously to do with student records, and I decided not to pry by looking in any of them.

Do I get this right that a room that contains confidential student records is just open for anyone to wander in and browse at their leisure?

How about you let Hatsumi and I find a seat...

"Hatsumi and me"

Thanks again for reading and for pointing out issues that you've found. I've gone back and made some changes to fix those errors and rework some parts that you didn't think made sense.

Please do keep doing so as I genuinely wouldn't have considered some of what I had written to be strange. When I was at school, there would have been plenty opportunities to access things like student records. Things like the server room and the psychologist's and teachers' offices were often left open. There were even times when I was sent to fetch exams I would be writing later that week.

I do always maintain that my school and school career were insane, which anyone I tell stories about to agrees with, so I do appreciate someone pointing out things that might seem strange to an outsider.

Steamer

Life has settled into a familiar pattern over the past week. It's almost the same as it had been before I came to Yamaku. Lessons each day and homework each evening. The only real difference has been the dorm life. The end of the school day has not been the end of seeing my school friends.

Friday was my first official Disciplinary Committee meeting, and was really a simple affair. A list of names and a set of papers detailing students that had misbehaved over the past week. There wasn’t much for us to do with those as the teachers dealt with things like tardiness and missing homework on the spot. We just had to make note of it in case it became a running issue.

Giichi had shown me how to fill everything out and, despite his cold manner, I was confident that his lesson would stick with me. He might make a good teacher if he were willing to step out of his comfort zone a bit more. It was at that meeting that the three of them had decided that we should do something as a group on Sunday. Giichi called a ‘teambuilding exercise’ that would help us grow together as a committee.

I’m fairly certain that was just one of his clever ways of getting around the various loopholes so that we could use committee funds. The more time I spent with the three of them, the more I began to wonder about how noble a group they really were.

All of that had led up to me getting ready to join them for another unknown adventure for the rest of the day.

Rei had said not to worry about getting up too early as she would come get me when we were ready to go.

The other three might have been ready to sleep in late on Sunday morning, but I was still up early enough for my morning check in. The days of late mornings are over for me.

Despite being up early, I have no intention of heading out to get breakfast today. The chips I had bought last week and a juice I had got since then would be enough. I may not be able to sleep late, but that doesn’t mean I'm not going to stay in bed.

When I finish my unhealthy breakfast and read a couple more chapters of my book, I decide to get up and prepare for the day ahead. The secretive nature of both Rei and Giichi is something I have come to terms with.

Toru goes along with it, and I'm learning to as well.

All of that means that I'm not exactly sure what to wear for our get-together. I suppose my school uniform would work, but that seems too boring. If the others have dressed up, then I'll be very out of place.

I don’t want to go overboard either.

In the end, I settle for something practical that isn’t my school uniform. I pull out a pair of jeans. They’re on the darker side which I prefer as the faded style that you mostly see never really appealed to me.

Looking through my other clothes, I briefly consider something white but decide against something so prone to stains. A light blue blouse jumps out at me, and I pull it out. That will match nicely with the jeans.

A pair of brown shoes and the larger of my two hats complete the look. I don’t know if I’ll need that hat but it’s best to be prepared. It’s always possible that we'll be spending some time outdoors today.

Once I’m ready, I lay back on the bed to get some more reading in. I’ll soon be finished with this book and the story is about to reach its climax.

I get quite absorbed in the book and time flows by quickly until there’s a sharp knocking at the door. I jump up and head over to the door to let Rei in.

As I get there, I'm suddenly hit by the thought that it might actually be Chiharu at the door, wanting to get in here to clean.

Swinging the door open, I'm relieved to see that my fear was unfounded and that we still have time to get away without having to face that strangeness.

Rei has chosen to be far more flamboyant than me.

“Morning,” I say as I take in the sight of her.

The first thing that pops into my head is how loud she looks. Dark, yet striking green trousers. A somewhat pale pink shirt and a much more vibrant pink jacket over that.

Her shoes match her jacket while the gloves match her trousers.

“Hey,” she answers. “You like it?”

She spins for me, clearly aware of the affect her outfit has had on me.

“It’s very impressive,” I say with a nod.

It'll definitely draw attention. So much attention that I’m not sure you’d notice anything else about her. If that’s the goal, then Rei has definitely succeeded.

“You look great as well,” she responds. “Now let’s get going. Can’t keep those impatient boys waiting.”

Wasn’t it all their idea to start the day late?

I guess not as, despite me being up for some time, it's still relatively early for a Sunday morning. Maybe they consider this to be late, but the lack of activity in the building indicates that most people are either just waking up or happily sleeping the morning away.

---

We head over to the boys’ dorms, and I see that the other two are in fact waiting for us. The picture they present is a somewhat twisted version of our own. Giichi is has chosen brown trousers and a blue shirt as well as a dark blazer. Smart, but muted and semi-formal.

Toru stands out in a different way to Rei. He’s the only one with shorts on. They’re khaki and are matched dark green shirt. He’s wearing sandals and seems to have far more pockets all over his outfit than I would think are necessary.

“You made it,” Toru says as if we had achieved something by arriving at the meeting. “Glad to see that you’re ready. Great outfits as well.”

“Agreed,” says Giichi. “Now we should probably get going if we want to catch the bus.”

So, we're going some distance then? Or maybe he just wants to save time? Whichever it was, the four of us set off towards the school gates and the bus stop.

We're a bit early for the bus, but that is better than missing it. We’d be waiting a long time otherwise.

As we wait, I decide that it was time to get someone to elaborate on the plan for the day.

“Where are we going?” I say to no-one in particular.

Any of them could have planned the day ahead.

“There’s a mall not too far away,” Giichi answers. “Plenty of stuff there that you won’t find within walking distance of the school. From there, everyone gets a say in what happens next. There’s plenty nearby. Movies, restaurants, a shrine. Even a lake.”

How very democratic of Giichi. I think there’s probably something he wants to get there, and he doesn’t want to plan the rest of the trip either.

He’s gets what he wants, we decide what to do, and all of it cleverly disguised as democracy.

“Sounds fun,” Rei responds. “I haven’t been out there for a while. I think they’re recently done some renovations. It'll be nice to see the difference.”

“It really is a nice place,” Toru says to me. “Not as quiet as it is as here. More to do and more people around our age.”

I’d heard that there was a larger town nearby. My parents mentioned it before we came here.

If you want anything besides the day-to-day necessities and a few curios, you have to head out of this little town. It'll be good to see what the place does actually have on offer.

When the bus does arrive, the boys motion for us to get on first. Rei leads the way and pays for all of us. The committee funds really are covering the bill it seems.

There’s a section at the front of the bus for the elderly and the disabled. Rei walks straight past it and the rest of us follow suit. I don’t think any of us need to make use of it anyway. You wouldn’t even know that we were from Yamaku if it wasn’t for the stop we were at.

She heads right to the back and sits down on one side of the bench. I join her before Toru squeezes into the opposite side of the bench, leaving the centre open for Giichi. He stiffly sits down next to me and starts to buckle the seatbelt. I know that some busses have them, but I’ve never seen anyone actually use them.

Once we’re all in place, the bus begins to move off down the hill. It doesn’t move that fast, but the journey is sped up by it not stopping at every bus stop on the route. Only when someone is waiting to board or wants to get off does the bus come to a stop.

We’re soon further away from the school than I’ve gone before, and I stare out to see what the rest of the town looks like. I wasn’t really paying attention when I last came through so it’s interesting to see the rest of the downtown area.

“This is the slightly more expensive side of town,” Toru says, also looking out the window. "More people means more business and more money."

There are noticeably more people around than I’ve seen before. They're also slightly younger than those around the school. These are probably all the people that flocked up the hill to the festival last week.

We’re soon out the other side of town and heading back up along a winding road that takes us out of the valley. The road is wide enough but feels small thanks to all of the trees on either side.

“There are some nice trails around here,” Rei says. “You do have to be careful about getting lost though."

This is clearly addressed to me as the other two are rather unimpressed by the implied suggestion.

“I think I’ll skip that,” Toru says.

“No thank you,” Giichi adds.

“We’ll just have to go on our own one day. Hey Hatsumi?” Rei asks.

“Let me know when and I’ll be ready to join you,” I reply.

Toru shakes his head in amazement.

“You two really want to wander off into a forest all alone with no idea what’s out there?” He asks.

“Of course, we do,” Rei replies. “Where’s your sense of adventure? You love exploring the unknown.”

Toru doesn’t strike me as the type, so I turn to scrutinize him. His answer clears thing up for me.

“I can explore as much as I want from the safety of a library or from my desk,” he says. “I don’t need to risk life and limb to explore it myself.”

Both of them have been able to fire off a few jabs at each other, but it’s good natured and they each take it well. I’m still not quite at the point where I can throw such playful barbs around without worrying how it will be taken. I’m sure it will come with time though.

Giichi has stayed silent throughout the banter, but I decide that he’ll need to weigh in on the matter.

“Will you stick with Toru or set out on an adventure with us?” I ask.

He genuinely appears to weigh up the options before answering. “I know what I’m interested in and where it will take me. There’s no need for me to going exploring with either of you.”

The weasel has squirmed his way out of taking sides again.

Even though he seems to be very good at that, it isn’t a frustrating thing. If he knows what he wants to do, then that’s a good thing for him.

---

The remainder of the bus journey is mostly uneventful. There’s not much to see until we reach the next town over. It’s definitely a bigger place, though not as large as what I’m used to back at home.

The streets are wider, the buildings taller, and there are far more familiar chains of shops than what I saw around Yamaku. Far fewer family-owned shops and many more corporations lined the streets as we headed down the main road.

Giichi pressed the button on the seat in front of us and the bus ground to a halt at the next stop. Once we were stationary, we all made our way towards the front of the bus. With a quick nod of thanks to the bus driver, we stepped out onto the pavement and looked around as the bus pulled away.

“Let’s get going,” Giichi says, and Toru begins to lead the way.

We don’t have to head too far. Just a short walk to the nearest intersection and a left turn brings us to the entrance of the mall. It has its own building but manages not to stand out much amongst the other multi-storey buildings surrounding it. The lack of windows are the only thing that separated it from its neighbours.

We head inside and come to a stop in front of the information panel. There are plenty of familiar stores on the list.

“There’s still some time before lunch,” Giichi says. “So, let’s make the most of the time we have and then head off somewhere to eat. Any specific requests on what you want to do?”

I don’t really mind what we do, so I just look around at the others to see if they have any plans.

“Well, we’re definitely going to go see if there’re any cool clothes in stock,” Rei says.

“There’s a bottle of paint I need to get,” Toru says.

Giichi nods. “Lead the way. We’ve got shops to see.”

The wide walkway of the mall means that there’s plenty of space despite the large number of people wandering around. Rei takes the lead this time, apparently having decided that clothes will come first. The rest of us follow on as she heads for the nearest escalator. The stores on the ground floor don’t seem of any interest to her.

We’re head up to the next floor as Rei begins to address the issue of clothing.

“Is that your usual style, or is there anything else you prefer,” she says, addressing me.

I think about what I have on and what fills my wardrobe back at the dorms.

“This is me,” I answer. “I only have a few things that really stand out.”

Rei nods.

“And you’re hopeless,” she says to Toru. “They wouldn’t have anything in your size even if they stocked the stuff you wear.”

His size would probably be a problem in clothes shopping. I don’t think I’ve ever seen something in his size when I’ve occasionally been in the men’s section of clothing stores.

“Yes, I know I have to import everything,” Toru responds. “But you can leave my style alone. It’s extremely practical.”

“It’s only practical because you refuse to wear anything else,” Rei counters. “It wouldn’t hurt to wear something more in the dead of winter.”

“That’s your winter outfit as well?” I ask in amazement. “How do you handle the cold?”

“Doesn’t bother me,” he replies with a shrug. “It’s what I’m used to, and I like having all these pockets available.”

I wasn’t sure about all of that. Surely it must get to him when it snows? If it doesn’t, he really is very tough.

For once his personality seems to match with his appearance.

“Well, I’m sure we can find suitable things for the rest of us,” says Rei as she turns into one of the clothing stores.

It looks somewhat high end, but it lacks the display of dresses and skirts that I have come to expect when walking into a store like this. Everything looks quite trendy and modern, but it’s clear that it all designed with a practical side in mind.

“The two of you going to hang around or do you want to go find your section?” Rei asks Toru and Giichi.

“We know I won’t be finding anything,” Toru replies.

“This isn’t my kind of store,” Giichi says, looking around critically.

“Great,” Rei says excitedly. “We’ll be able to bang some style into your heads. It’s important to know what us girls like.”

Rei seems to take great pleasure out of dragging the two of them through this experience, but they don’t seem as averse to Rei’s games as they could have been. Then again, I might be in just as much hot water as the two of them as Rei’s ideas of style definitely differed from my own.

It seems I was right to worry about that as Rei looks around the store before beelining straight towards a display of jackets.

They're bright red.

“These will be great to contrast with any pale clothing,” she says. “A splash of vivid colour against a background of muted tones.”

We join her at the display, and I look at it sceptically.

“It’s a bit bright. Don’t you think?” I say.

“No, it’s perfect,” she says, pulling one out and holding it out next to me. “What do you two think?”

They seem hesitant to answer, though I don’t know whether that’s because they don’t like it or if they just don’t know what the right thing would be to say.

Giichi speaks up first. “It’s very striking. Sure to grab the attention of anyone looking at it. I don’t know if they’d be able to look away.”

That’s a very serious answer and I don’t think that it’s the kind of attention I want.

“I think it would be fun to have,” Toru says. “Maybe you wouldn’t wear it all the time, but it definitely has its place.”

Neither of them is against it, even if they didn’t show as much enthusiasm as Rei.

“Come on. Try it on,” Rei says, thrusting the jacket towards me. “I’m sure this one is your size.”

I don’t seem to have a choice, so I take it and quickly pull it on. Walking over to the nearby mirror, I look myself up and down. Rei’s right that it fits. She also seems to know her fashion. I wouldn’t have chosen it but the contrast in colours really does work.

“See!” Rei says excitedly. “I knew it would work on you. We have to get it.”

“She is right,” Toru admits while Giichi just nods.

“I’m not sure,” I reply. “It’s a bit too expensive for a novelty item of clothing.”

I’d seen a few of the price tags around here and they were rather expensive.

“Doesn’t matter,” Rei says, as she spun away and set off across the store.

I was about to follow when Giichi spoke up.

“Don’t bother,” he says. “She’s decided she wants you to have it, and that is what’s going to happen.”

“She can’t get it for me,” I say as I try to follow her, but Toru puts his arm out.

“Yes, she can,” he tells me. “Have you looked at her? Closely? She can do whatever she wants.”

I don’t really understand what Toru is trying to say, so I try to picture Rei in my mind. Her outfit today does seem to be rather upmarket. The paintings in her room can’t have been cheap either.

Our time in the forest also reminds me about how fancy her prosthetics looked compared to any of the others I’ve seen. They’re not for anyone to look at and one of them seems to be cosmetic rather than anything else.

“She has that much cash?” I ask as the pieces fall into place.

“That’s the right question to be asking,” Toru says. “She has plenty of allowance to throw around. She also gets to decide where to throw it”

“But she shouldn’t just spend it on me,” I answer. “How am I supposed to repay that kind of gift?”

“She doesn’t want anything back,” Toru assures me. “In fact, you wearing it is probably enough to repay her.”

That doesn’t seem right to me, but Rei is already on her way back to us, smiling wildly.

“You’re now the proud owner of a wonderful red jacket,” she announces as she reaches us. “Now let’s get going. There’s plenty more to see.”

I’d have to take her word for it as there was no sign of a slip anywhere, but the fact that no-one tried to stop us was reassuring that she had in fact paid for it.

“You two are next,” she says, ushering Giichi and Toru along. “Lead the way.”

With our change in leadership, we soon reach a somewhat small stationary store. It looks like they specialize in high end stationary rather than your average disposable stuff.

Toru and Giichi instantly head in opposite directions leaving us with a choice to make. I settle on heading off after Toru as his goal would probably be more interesting than whatever Giichi would be looking for in a stationary store.

When I caught up with him, I could see that he was scanning a shelf of paints, all of which were neatly lined up in small glass bottles.

“What are you looking for?” I say, as I take in the vast array of colours before us.

“This!” He says triumphantly as he pulls a bottle of the shelf. It looks grey to me. A rather mundane thing to be so excited over.

“It’s grey,” I say, flatly.

“Which is exactly what I need right now,” Toru responds. “I need to paint metal plates onto one of my models and I’m all out.”

I think back to his collection and envisage how monotone a lot of it was. I suppose it looks good that way.

“I’m done here,” he says. “I’m going to go pay. Giichi’s probably there as well.”

When we get to the till, and I see that Giichi is indeed already paying for what looks like some ink cartridges. He does use a fancy pen which I would guess doesn’t take ink from any store near us.

With those purchases done, we wander around looking at the various stores but not going into most of them.

The morning passes by quickly and it’s not long before Giichi suggests that we head somewhere to eat.

“Where shall we go?” Rei asks.

“Theres a Sukiya and a Sendaikko nearby,” Toru says. “Coco Ichibanya is good as well. We could have gone to Hanbey if we were here later.”

“Coco Ichibanya has my vote,” Rei says. “Nothing is better than a good curry.”

I always enjoy curry as long as it isn’t too spicy, and I know that it won’t be a problem there.

“I’d like that,” I say, and Rei smiles.

“We’re decided then,” Giichi says as he motions for Toru to lead the way.

---

When we get to Coco Ichibanya, we quickly head inside and grab a table in the relatively busy restaurant. The paper menus on the table can be filled in to customize our orders and we all start to fill in our own sheets.

Toru goes for a beef curry with a seven spice rating. The rest of us choose pork for our curry. Giichi has chosen to play it safe with a four spice rating while I go with a six.

Rei obviously marks down the maximum. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone choose ten before.

It’s not long before the food arrives and we all eye Rei’s plate suspiciously.

“You should try some,” she responds to this, and we all quickly look to our own dishes.

I don’t think any of us are ready to face whatever is sitting on her plate.

The curry is exactly what I expect from Coco Ichibanya. It’s filling and has the exact heat level I expected from my order. We’re all happy with our orders as there’s very little conversation as we eat.

Once we finish, it’s Giichi who heads off to pay the bill. He’s keeping his word about the committee covering the bill. The rest of us head over to the door to wait for him to finish up and join us.

We head out into the street and made our way towards the bus stop with Rei leading the way.

“I’ve got an idea for what we should do next,” she says. “Let’s head to the lake.”

“What’ll we do there?” I ask.

That didn’t really seem like the something that would have much for us to do, but Rei seems to have a plan.

“You could do some fishing,” she replies. “But I want to take a ride on the paddleboats. There’s something about it that’s just so fun and I’ll need one of you to make it happen.”

I haven’t done anything like that for a long time and I'm not sure how big this lake could be for it to be an exciting trip but, with the bus pulling up, we don’t really have any time to discuss the suggestion as we all quickly board and made our way back to our same seats.

The bus heads back along a different route than the one we came on this morning and soon arrives at the stop by the lake. I must admit that it is a somewhat impressive sight.

There are a few stalls set up along the pathway that snakes along the lakeshore. Some are selling snacks, while others seem to be focused on activities. Off to one side, I can see that there are a few people swimming by a little dock where the paddleboats are floating. In the opposite direction I can see a couple of people with fishing rods.

We head over to the dock and up to the man running the paddleboats.

“We’d like two boats please,” Rei says to him.

He looks over the four of us before saying, “You’ll need three. He’s not riding with anyone else. The balance in a two-person boat would be all off.”

The man points to Toru who smiles sheepishly.

“That’s not a surprise,” he says.

“We’ll still take two,” Giichi says. “I won’t be joining.”

I turn to him in surprise.

“Why?” I blurt out.

“You’ll need to paddle for Rei, and I won’t be doing any paddling myself,” he explains. “So, one for the two of you and one for Toru.”

That makes sense. I feel a bit embarrassed about not realizing that Giichi might have trouble trying to paddle a boat with his legs. Even if it was something he could do, his braces would probably make it very difficult.

“I’m sorry,” Toru says, also understanding the situation.

“It’s fine,” Giichi says, already fishing out the money to pay for the two boats. “I’m not going to get in the way of this. Maybe I’ll even throw some stuff at you to remind you that I’m still here.”

With Giichi being the one not giving us a say in things this time, we head out onto the dock and the man helps us with getting into our paddle boats. They are tied off to the dock, but it is still helpful to have someone’s arm to hold onto when you get into a swaying boat.

Rei is able to slot one leg into place with ease before she positions the other in place as if she would be able to use it for this kind of activity. The man eyes her funnily but is soon distracted by Toru trying to get into his boat.

“Maybe you should sit down on the dock before getting in,” he suggests. “It might tip over if you make it too top heavy.

“That’s probably a good idea,” he says, before following the man’s instructions.

It really is a funny sight seeing Toru in the small boat. It clearly is able to hold him as he wouldn’t have been let into it otherwise, but that doesn’t stop him from looking like he’s far too big for the little boat.

The man then unties each of our boats and pushes us away from the dock.

“Try not to capsize,” Giichi says, with a slight smile. “I don’t want to have to deal with all the work that would bring.”

“We won’t,” Toru calls back as he begins to paddle out into the lake.

I start paddling to keep up and once we’re away from the shore Rei quickly pulls her one leg out from the paddles.

“That will just get in the way,” she says over her shoulder. “I didn’t want him asking any questions though. Now let’s see how well this works with only one leg.

I think I now understand why she did that in the first place. Her full prosthetic leg probably wouldn’t be very useful for the kind of motion needed in paddling. She probably thought that the man might turn us down if he knew about it. Maybe she was right. We’d already lost one man to his restrictions.

“Now let’s get after Toru,” she continues. “He’s getting away and I don’t intend to lose to him.

What are we going to lose?

We begin to paddle towards him, and I notice that I need to push a bit harder on one side to make up for Rei’s situation. It’s not too much effort so I’m not fazed by having to do so.

We’re almost at Toru and I’m relieved that I’m the one in charge of steering as Rei seems disappointed by the fact that we turn as we near him.

She seems to be much more in favour of ramming straight into him.

“Really,” Rei says in exasperation. “It wouldn’t have hurt anyone to have a bit of fun.”

“If that’s the case, then I guess you wouldn’t mind this,” Toru calls back to her.

He seems to have understood what she had wanted to do to him, and he reaches down into the water to splash some at her.

Rei squeals as a few drops land on her, but it’s clear to me that Toru isn’t really trying to drench her. Rei retaliates and I’m soon worried that I’m going to get caught in the crossfire. With a bit of pedalling, I now manage to place Rei firmly between Toru and me so that she can take all of the punishment.

“You traitor,” Rei accused me. “We’re in the same boat and you’re doing nothing to help me.”

“I didn’t volunteer for this war,” I call back. “You can make peace, or you can fight it alone.”

“Thank you Hatsumi,” Toru says from his boat. “I’m glad there’s someone here with a bit of reason.”

Toru has definitely come of worse in their water fight which is probably part of the reason Rei agrees to a ceasefire. The three of us are now able to enjoy a much more peaceful boat ride than it had looked like we were going to have.

“Let’s head out into the middle of the lake,” Toru says. “It’ll be more peaceful there.”

We follow his lead and the noise from the shore begins to fade as we get further out. When we float to a stop in the middle of the lake, I can hardly hear any sounds at all. The water also begins to still now that we’ve stopped paddling.

Toru removes his mask and looks around.

“That’s much better,” he says. “Nothing can really get to me way out here.”

We are far enough away from everything that I don’t think even a strong wind could blow anything to us. Without even a breath of air, he’s probably right.

“So, you do like all of this?” I ask Toru, looking at him take in the scenery.

“Yes,” he replies. “It doesn’t like me, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate it when I have the chance. Lakes and the ocean are some of the few times I can get involved in enjoying nature with too much worry.”

I’ll have to make a note of that. Forests are out, but the beach is definitely a future possibility. I’m not sure when we’ll get the chance to do that, but it could be fun.

“So, you wouldn’t mind the beach,” I ask him. “Maybe we could go there sometime? Over the vacation?”

“I’d enjoy that, but not these two. They’d hate getting sand in all of their stuff,” he replies.

I suppose the beach isn’t really the place for fun in anything more than a swimsuit.

“Well, it’s an idea,” I say. “I’m sure we’ll come up with other things to do as a group.”

“You shouldn’t be thinking about the vacation yet,” Toru says. “There’s still plenty of school left until then, and we’ll have to do our exams as well.”

“You don’t have to bring those up,” Rei says. “We’ll deal with them when we have to.”

“It never hurts to be prepared,” Toru says. “But I’ll drop it if that’s what you want.”

I’d rather we just enjoy our time out on the lake so I’m fine with that decision as well. I start to paddle again, and we float closer to the far side of the lake. There’s no pathway here as the forest comes right down to the shore. It’s also far too thick and overgrown to see much of anything.

---

We spend some time on the lake before returning to the dock and Giichi. Once there, we all have to wait around for the bus to return again. The stalls keep us busy for a little while, but there really isn’t that much to see.

Once we’re back on the bus, we watch the lake shrink into the distance as we head back the way we came.

“We’re going to have to change busses to get back to Yamaku so we might as well do something on the way,” Giichi said. “Is anyone interested in eating out for dinner?”

“We can go to Hanbey?” Toru asks hopefully. “It’s cheap enough, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is,” Giichi responded. “We can afford that if everyone else is in agreement.”

I haven’t heard of Hanbey before Toru had brought it up so I’m willing to go along with it.

“Why not,” Rei says. “Their food is good, even if the portions are small.

With that settled, we wait for the bus to arrive at our destination. It doesn’t seem to be too far from where we last stopped. Toru leads us along the sidewalk that has got less busy now that it’s evening. The restaurants that we pass are much fuller than this afternoon and explain the lack of foot traffic.

When we arrive at the building with a large sign reading Hanbey on it, I see that it is in fact an Izakaya. That explains why it wasn’t open earlier.
Heading inside, it’s as if we’ve entered into another world.

It looks like we’ve been transported back to the sixties or possibly even earlier. I can’t quite tell with the display of old memorabilia that I’ve only ever seen in photos that my grandparents showed me on my visits.

The walls are covered in graffiti and old frayed posters. Off to one side are shelves of toys and masks, some of which I recognize from the curios store back near Yamaku. There’s even an old rotary telephone on the table. The music must be straight out of my grandparent’s youth.

“What is this place?” I say looking around at this slice of the past.

“It’s a 60’s themed chain of Izakaya’s,” Toru answers. “It’s always fun see how they each go about recreating that theme.”

It really is amazing to see how the place is able to transport you forty years back in time with just the decorations on the walls. There were a few customers sitting along the counter with a range of dishes before them, but the place doesn’t seem as busy as the restaurants that we passed along the way.

“Come on,” Toru says. “Wait until you see the menu. It’s crazy what this place has on offer.”

This is meant for me as the others are clearly familiar with the place. As we sit down, the old man behind the counter hands us four menu’s and I begin to see why Toru finds this place so impressive.

Everything on the menu is cheaper than I would have thought possible. A Yakitori skewer is only 60 Yen. There’s a massive array of foods to choose from and each of them are also at ridiculously low prices.

“They may all be small portions, but you’ll still come away with a huge pile of food for next to nothing,” Rei says. “Though the atmosphere makes it even better value.”

“Order whatever you want,” Giichi adds on to this. “We have the space for it in the budget. Make it worthwhile as well. We can’t throw another bonding exercise again for a while.”

He really was adamant about following protocol even when fun was involved.

“While we wait, we can also try and understand their English menu,” Toru says. “It has some rather fun translations.”

I had noticed that there was something off about a few of the translations, but my English isn’t really good enough to try and pass judgement on someone else’s efforts.

It seemed Toru is ready to though.

“I suppose your English would be good,” I say to him.

“Yes. It is my second language,” he replied.

“Your second?” I ask in surprise. “How many languages can you speak?”

“He’s quite the polyglot,” Rei chimes in. “It’s four languages, isn’t it?”

Four? I can hardly speak my second language.

“Technically four,” Toru answers. “But I’m only fluent in three of them.”

That was still very impressive to me.

“What languages can you speak?” I ask him.

“Well, obviously I can speak Japanese,” he begins. “Then there’s English. My first language is Afrikaans, but I also learnt quite a bit of Xhosa when I was at school. My father was pretty adamant that I succeeded in my language studies.”

“I haven’t heard of either of those,” I respond.

“No, you probably wouldn’t,” he says. “They’re some of the largest languages back in South Africa, but no-one else speaks them.”

“It’s still better than anything we’ll do,” Rei chimes in. “If we can get English down then that'll be an achievement.”

I have to agree with her. I wouldn’t boast about my second language and Toru’s worried about not being fluent in his fourth.

“They aren’t important anyway,’ he continues. “Let’s translate these English names literally and I’m sure you’ll be dying with laughter.”

He is right. Some of the translations make no sense. A few are understandable, but others leave us all scratching our heads in bewilderment. ‘Priest octopus sausage’, ‘cinnamon water of terror’, and ‘fly like a scallop’ are some of my favourite peculiarities on the menu.

We end up ordering bowls of yakisoba, a pile of yakitori, and chicken wings. Toru even adds an order of all you can eat cabbage to the list. It’s amazing that all this food comes to less than four thousand Yen.

We happily make our way through the cheap piles before us. It’s obviously not the highest quality food, but it’s still delicious so I can excuse that fact when we’re practically robbing the place.

The atmosphere makes it even more fun, but we do have to get going soon if we want to get back to Yamaku at a reasonable time.

There is next to no waiting as we arrive at the bus stop just as the bus is about to pull up. There are quite a number of people on board so we’re unable to sit together this time. While some people do get off as we travel, it looks like most of the passengers share a similar destination to us.

It’s only at the stop two before Yamaku that the last of our fellow travellers gets off. When we do finally trundle to a stop just outside the Yamaku gates, I’m relieved to see that it’s not too late in the evening.

It’s been fun hanging out with the others, but I do want some time to myself before having to get ready for bed.

Giichi stops us as we walk across the empty courtyard with something of a speech.

“Now that everyone’s had time to bond over a day out, you better not expect anything else to be covered for you,” he says.

He really wants to make that clear to us.

“It was fun, but now you can expect to pay your own way,” he continues.

“Don’t be so gloomy Giichi,” Rei responds. “We wouldn’t abuse our privileges.”

He scoffs at her and says, “You absolutely would. You think it’s great fun and you owe Toru some food as well. So maybe you can pay for the next one.”

“How…” Rei trails off before looking to Toru. “You’re getting him to enforce your bets now?”

Toru shrugs. “Can’t be too safe with you, trickster.”

“The nerve,” Rei answers with mock fury. “Well, I think I’ll get out of here before you try to get anything more out of me.”

Rei marches of with exaggerated motion and leaves the rest of us standing there as she does.

“I think that’s an excellent place to leave things,” Toru says with a smile.

They do enjoy these kinds of things.

“We’ll be going then Hatsumi,” he says, turning to me. “Today was fun. We’ll see you again in the week.”

“It was,” I answer. “See you then.”

With that, the two of them head off towards their own dorms and I’m left to follow after Rei.

---

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