Mio is a talented painter, according to people around her. Her paintings could tell stories better than herself. It all began when she started picking up a paintbrush and randomly pull some strokes.
"Wow, I've never thought you could do this with a paintbrush!" A young boy said to a young Mio.
"Are you going to make more?" The same boy asked.
"Of course! It's gonna be prettier than this one!" Mio said. With that promise, Mio kept making new paintings every day, to please her friend. It didn't take long until one of her classmates found out what she has been doing.
"Oh, what is this? So boring!" A boy said as he stomped on the painting Mio had yet shown to her friend.
"Oh, you made this? I'm sorry! I think you can just make it again right? It's just a scribble." The boy said. This made Mio cried even more. Not everyone knows what Mio delivers through her paintings. This realization hits her hard.
"What are you doing to Mio-chan?!" The young boy came over, shouting.
"How dare you make fun of Mio-chan's paintings? She must have spent a long time making them!" His words brought her hope, to create paintings that everyone could understand.
The incident ended up being the two boys fighting, their parents were called to school.
"Are you alright?" The boy asked after he got out from the teacher's office. Mio nodded.
"Could you understand what I had painted on the canvasses?" Mio asked.
"Nope, but I know Mio-chan is working hard for these, I'll try my best to understand them if you could teach me ehehe." The boy said. Mio sighed, and a smile emerged.
"I'll also try my best to make it understandable for you!" Mio said. After this, she worked hard improving her skills, in order to express her feelings to that boy. Her paintings even went on display in a local art museum, which is a huge feat for such a young painter.
It took a little misfortune to turn things upside down, however.
"It's my fault... It's my fault Kei-kun became like that..." She murmured. She continued painting, but the paintings were either too abstract to understand, or its unsettling presence. Long after, she is deemed to be reaching her limit of her talents that she couldn't produce anything as good as she did years ago. Compared to her friend, Kanade who aims to be a doctor, she looked like a complete failure. Just like an irksome weed growing next to a beautiful flower.
Mio slowly picked herself up and her belongings and heads back to her classroom.
Keita returned to his classroom with an exhausted look. It seems like having a lot of uncertainties rushing to his head is very tiring.
"Keita, you're late, your class committee is waiting for you." Itsuki called.
"Ugh... Alright..." Keita said as he put down his belongings on his desk and walked to the front.
"We still have some positions in the class committee, is there any volunteers?" Keita said in front of the class.
"Well, guess I should join as well." Itsuki raised his hand.
"Any others?" Keita asked. A few students came forth and offered to be a part of the class committee.
"Hikaru, could you add the other members into the group?" Keita asked.
"Oh why, of course, leave it to me!" Hikaru said as he dashed off to do as Keita asked. Keita sits down and rests his head on his arms.
"What happened?" Itsuki asked.
"Nothing." Keita responded.
"Futaba-san! Look at this, level 70! Ta-dah!" Ayumi said as she shows her phone.
"Whoa, you play Puzzle Hazard as well?" Itsuki asked.
"Uh yeah, I do." Ayumi gave a cold response.
"Why are you so friendly with Keita?" Itsuki somehow got the gist of what is going on.
"It's none of your business." Ayumi said.
"Oh, well then. Want to add friends on Puzzle Hazard?" Itsuki asked.
"Fine by me." Ayumi agreed.
"Here you go." Itsuki showed his QR code.
"Wow, level 108." Ayumi said.
"I also happen to be one of the top 1000 players in this game." Itsuki bragged.
"Tsk... You're so annoying." Keita said.
"While we are talking about this, why not we add each other?" Itsuki urges.
"Suit yourself." Keita said as he reveals his QR code.
"How did you do that?" Ayumi asked.
"Do what?" Itsuki said.
"I asked for his id yesterday, but he refused." Ayumi said.
"Well, his condition is not as good as he was yesterday. Look, we're bothering him as we speak, right?" Itsuki teases.
"..." Keita ignored them.
"What?! Level 209!" Both Itsuki and Ayumi exclaimed. With that progress, he is already eligible as one of the top 50 players in the game. Players may share rankings since they were ranked based on their scores and time used to clear the levels. It also depends on how many levels they cleared. In other words, Keita has a high ranking in this game.
"For real? I thought I'm the best player in this class..." Itsuki sulked.
"Alright, it's time for homeroom." Ogura sensei entered the class. Noticed that everyone is waiting for Keita for the greetings, Keita stood up and led the greeting.
"Class rep, is everything working out fine?" Ogura sensei asked.
"Yes, we just gathered a few more students to fill in the remaining positions in the class committee. We plan to draft the duty schedule today." Keita reported.
"Good job, in fact you even did what I wanted to do today. It's fine, let's move on with homeroom." Ogura sensei said. Classes went on as usual, as well as drafting the duty. The lunch break bell rang, Keita and Itsuki heads to the cafeteria like usual.
"Will we meet Kujou-senpai again?" Itsuki said.
"Only if you find her purposely. She should be in school right now." Keita said.
"I know that obviously, but do you believe in fate? Ahh!" Itsuki said.
"Eww gross." Keita commented. The two bought their bread in the cafeteria.
"I'm going upstairs. You can head back first." Keita said.
"There is a toilet on this floor too, what are you gonna do up there?" Itsuki asked.
"I want to meet someone." Keita said. He walks upstairs and Itsuki is following.
"There is a toilet on this floor, what are you gonna do up here?" Keita asked.
"I want to meet someone too." Itsuki said.
"Don't get in my way." Keita said.
"I'll just watch in a distance, so don't worry ahaha." Itsuki said.