There are a lot of foods I like, and I chose coffee in this case. It's ordinary, but the other students
did mention stuff like Ramen or Sushi, and the girls mention sweets. It's really ordinary.
Most of the students would add on, saying some things about their club activities or hobbies to
spice up the atmosphere in class. It seems everyone has a hidden understanding that they could
not let it end up this.
As for me, there's nothing much I could say. Once it's my turn to speak up, I ponder seriously for a
brief moment, but was still unable to think of anything to talk about.
And so, I accidentally,
Blurted out what I should not have said.
"Well...I transferred into this school during this semester, and it's my second time wearing the
uniform and entering the school. It feels like everything seems so new, like a new student."
It's still fine till this point.
I feel that my classmates are starting to show concern for me, and I think I hear some voices of the
heart, like "I see", "so you're a transfer student", "that's rare".
And what I said next was inappropriate,
"I took leave from school for a year before this, so I'm very happy to be able to return back to a
high school life."
These were my true thoughts.
However-
My classmates start to rumble.
"Eh? Older than us?"
"A retainee?"
This time, what I heard was not the voices of the heart, but actual whispers I could hear from my
ears.
Even though I realized it was a bad situation, it was all too late.
The atmosphere in class changed from the understanding of "there's a transfer student' to a 'so
there's a senior who's supposed to be our upperclassman'.
It was only a while later did I realize that there were no retained students in this school, that
there were as many goldfish that could speak as there were classmates older than them.
I've left school for a year, and during this time, I was always in contact with people older than me-