"Off you go then."
"Thank you, sensei."
In the infirmary of his high school, Kei was speaking to the nurse who was in charge there. It had seemed that it was not the first time they had this conversation nor would it be the last. Outside the infirmary, a shy but extremely beautiful girl quickly fled the scene when she heard the nurse say what she did to avoid being found.
When Kei returned to the class, all eyes were fixed upon him. However, in contrast to the atmosphere earlier where everyone especially the girls' eyes were looking at him with excitement, it was now filled with fear, worry, and the like. Mai had returned slightly earlier and acted like she hadn't exited the classroom earlier.
"A-amane-san… I… I would like to apologize for my insensitive comments earlier!"
"Mmm. It's okay, I overreacted."
"N-no… It was me who was being insensitive and said what I felt like it… I had no right…"
"Well, just be mindful of others when you speak from now on."
"Yes!"
Kei tried his best to maintain his composure in the classroom so that he wouldn't make another scene. For the rest of the day, the classroom was only filled with silence and awkwardness, nothing much more. During their lunch break, three figures could be seen sitting at Kei's favourite lunch spot. Kei was not present as he left the classroom in a hurry the moment the bell rang.
"…"
"…"
"…"
This was the gist of the situation and atmosphere they were currently enveloped in. No one knew what to do or say after witnessing Kei's outburst earlier.
"U-um… can I ask you two a question?" Mai asked Chihaya and Azusa.
""Mmm…""
"Do you know where Kei goes when he does something like that?"
"…Haah… I'm sure you've already seen it so maybe I should tell you." Azusa reluctantly answered.
"Please…"
Azusa stopped eating her lunch, covered her lunchbox before placing it down on the ground.
"Anti-depressants."
"?"
"They're anti-depressants. Whenever he goes to the infirmary, it's to get that."
"Is he an addict?"
Mai worriedly asked if he was an addict because of what she got from the conversation between the nurse and Kei. It was a reasonable guess since it seemed like he had been taking them for a long time.
"I get why you'd think that, but no. Chihaya and I tailed him once since we were curious where he would sometimes disappear to. When we saw him enter the infirmary, we overheard a conversation between him and the nurse."
"Was it about him trying to get stronger doses?"
"From what we got from their conversation, it seemed like he had been bottling a lot of things up inside him. The nurse gave him anti-depressants to help him cope with the feelings he was bottling up."
"What was he trying to bottle up?"
"This is just a guess, but I would guess that it's anger? Seeing his behaviour especially during basketball trainings and games, he looked a lot angrier. The way he played, commanded, all looked like he was trying to keep himself calm by putting up an act."
"An act?"
"Do you want to know how Kei was like during middle school?"
"…"
Azusa proceeded to open her purse. Inside one of the hidden compartments, she pulled out a small piece of what seemed like a picture. When Mai saw the picture, she couldn't have imagined the day when she would come to see something like this. On the piece of film held by Azusa, there stood a happy Azusa and Chihaya with a boy in between the two of them. The boy, who was smiling happily with two 'peace' signs held up, was none other than Kei.
"I never thought that I would ever see Kei smiling so happily. Well… not that I would probably see it in real life anyway…" Mai said after seeing the picture.
"Well, maybe you will… who knows. You are the only person I've seen who managed to even get him to say more than 3 sentences in a conversation after we got into high school."
"Has he never spoken to you that much since starting high school?"
"Not unless it was for things like basketball and stuff."
"…"
As the three of them returned to their classrooms after the lunch break ended, Mai decided to wait outside the classroom for Kei to return. She waited for about 5 minutes before seeing Kei appear from the hallway.
"Kei-kun…"
"Hmm? What is it?"
"I'm cooking today!"
"Eh?"
"I'm cooking for you today! So please come home early!"
"…Ehh?! Why so sudden?!"
By this point, some of their classmates had hear Mai's sudden loud voice and proceeded to eavesdrop on their conversation.