First year student, Saotome Masami first fell in love when he was fifteen. Until that point, he had never opened his heart to anyone and simply remained a 'nice guy' to the people around him. Needless to say, this was a major turning point in his life.
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"Saotome-kun, are you free this sunday?" asked his classmate Kusatsu Akiko, shortly after the start of the second term as they were performing their after-school cleaning duties.
"No plans to speak of."
"See, Sachiko has some free movie tickets, and she said we should all go together."
Akiko had dark skin and high cheekbones.
She looked at Masami, waiting for an answer.
"We?" Masami asked, leaning on his broom. This lowered his face to her line of sight.
He was tall, with a face that had just enough charm to get him compared to pop idols. But it was always a different person everytime, never fixing on one resemblance.
"You know Sakamoto-kun from Class F? He made a pass at Sachiko and got the tickets, but she's a little nervous about going it alone."
"So, you need a discipline committee member as an escort? I know Sakamoto pretty well, and I don't want to drag his feet."
"Oh, you don't need to... Well, maybe you do," Kusatsu Akiko said, smiling weakly at him.
She was pretty forthright with everyone else but Masami, however, she couldn't contradict him directly, because she was in love with him. Masami was well aware of this, and privately, he was annoyed by it. Until now.
Today, he smiled back at her instead.
"But if you just want me to tag along, fine. Not like I've got anything better to do. If we run into the guidance teacher on patrol, I can probably talk us out of trouble."
Akiko's face brightened.
"Really? Well, the truth is Sachiko's secretly pleased that Sakamoto-kun asked her, so I don't think
you'll need to intervene."
"Whatever."
They both laughed.
You could never call Kusatsu Akiko a good-looking girl, but when she smiled next to the far more evenly-featured Masami, she gleamed like a still image from a soap opera.
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When the four of them met at the station, they appeared to be a very close-knit group. They ran into Masami's senpai on the discipline committee, Takeda Keiji, and he took one look at and asked if they were "double dating." So, there was clearly a hint of romance in the air.
The movie was a big Hollywood action movie, part three in a series, neither harming anyone nor doing anyone any good. The only part that Masami enjoyed was a bit where a minor villain was shot in the chest and knocked over backwards. His arms flung out to the sides, and he slid backwards like a figure skater. In Masami's eyes, he looked light and free.
They left the theater, and a passing group of teenagers glared at them murderously. Walking quickly, faces grim, they all carried bags with large square lumps inside.
"Cram school?" asked Noguchi Sachiko, this evening's investigator. "I hope we never end up like that."
"Yeah," Akiko nodded.
Masami remembered her letting it slip that she couldn't go to college because her father's company was about to go bankrupt.
"That's a long time from now. We ought to enjoy ourselves while we can," Sakamoto Jun said, trying to distract Sachiko.
"Yeah, just forget about it. Just live your life. Not like you can live forever," Masami said breezily.
"Oh look, it's Yurihara from our school," Sachiko said, pointing.
Yurihara Minako, second year, Class D, one of the best students in the school, and legend had it that she consistently beat out the best students at other cram schools on their practice tests. But she didn't look at all like the brainy type. Heck, she didn't even wear glasses. Instead, she had long straight hair with the kind of shine that no amount of treatment could ever give. It matched her slender face, giving the impression of Heian era princess.
Minako passed by them as they whispered, walking at a slower pace than other students, and vanished into the cram school.
"She's so relaxed. You can just see the aura of her genius."
"You know, she was scouted by some prep schools." Sakamoto said with a knowledgeable expression.
"Really? They can do that?"
From the fuss that they made, you would never have thought that they were talking about a senpai.
All the while, Masami remained quiet, smiling to himself. He didn't even glance at Minako. They had promised not to let their eyes meet in public.
"Anyone up for karaoke? There's a place near here with a great track list," Akiko said brightly.
She was in a good mood, now that she was out with her beloved Masami.
In the karaoke box, Masami sang easy pop songs, ones that had been all the rage up until recently, but had passed their peak, and everyone was starting get sick of them now. He almost always sang that sort of song at karaoke. He preferred an American band called The Doors, which had broken up ages ago (long before he was even born) when the lead singer passed away of a drug overdose. But he never told anybody. The Doors weren't in a lot of karaoke machines, but he never sang them even if they were.
He had a good voice, but since everyone was a little tired of his selections, they never really seemed all that interested. He always applauded other people's performances, never forgetting to keep up appearances. He never stuck out, was occasionally a little scorned, but he never made anyone jealous, and no one ever realized that he was keep them at a distance.
He bought drinks for everybody. He took them directly from the tray when the Waiter brought them and even passed them around himself.
He put Akiko's drink in her hands. Nobody saw him drop a small tablet, about five millimeters across. He tore it into her cup and handed it over. Minako had 'synthesized' the tablet, and as promised, it quickly dissolved into the diet cola.
Akiko never noticed a thing.