Sometime later at Unmei Elementary. Minokichi Nakagawa sat in his seat, reminiscing about the brief conversation between him and his sister Nozomi while looking to the side at the clouds outside the window. The class occurring around him was of no immediate concern to him.
"O-oh, don't worry. It's nothing. Just some dumb stuff I remembered from school." His sister waved off. She was hiding something she didn't want anyone else to know. Even if it was hurting her, even if the person asking was family, she didn't want to bother them all the same.
Minokichi remembered staring at her nervous eyes for a solid few seconds. He did not know what to do or how to approach such a delicate situation. Regretfully, the young boy spoke the first thing that came to mind: "Idiot." He turned away from his sister, leaving the kitchen in cold frustration.
In retrospect, it made the 6th grader wonder who he was calling an idiot at that moment. His sister for not trusting him enough to tell him what was wrong. Himself for validating said distrust due to his insufferable lack of social skills. Or...the both of them?
Minokichi never viewed himself as someone who always knew whenever someone was hiding how they were feeling. Despite her academic misgivings, his sister consistently proved to be the more emotionally intelligent and social of the two. She had an outgoing personality and a generally positive attitude toward the world around her.
If Nozomi was the bright sun that brought warmth to all it bathed, Minokichi was the silent moon that heralded the coldness of the night.
It hadn't bothered Minokichi much when he noticed the stark contrast between himself and his sister. In fact, it had been thanks to it that the cold-eyed boy understood early on that each person was different in what they were good or bad at.
But now, after seeing through Nozomi's facade with barely any difficulty, he couldn't help but grow frustrated at himself and his social weakness. Even if it didn't show in his face, he replayed the situation repeatedly inside his head. He wondered what he could've done to understand or at least help his sister, who probably had no one else to trust with whatever troubled her. So much for being her brother... Minokichi thought in self-deprecation.
"Nakagawa!" A familiar voice snapped Minokichi's attention away from the window to turn at who was addressing him.
It turned out that it had been his math teacher, Kubota Takahiro. "Yes, sensei?" Minokichi acknowledged his teacher.
Kubota poked at the blackboard behind him with the chalk in his hand. Minokichi now noticed an entire math problem on it. It was most likely drawn while he had been distracted by his thoughts. "Could you give me the solution to this question?" The teacher asked with a smug smile. He was waiting for the boy to answer it wrongly.
When Minokichi got up from his seat and squinted at the problem, he immediately understood why. It was something yet to be taught in class. Thankfully for Minokichi, he had gone out of his way to read ahead. "N equals 11," he answered calmly without hesitation after calculating the problem in his head for a few seconds.
"...correct," Kubota gritted out before turning his attention to the blackboard to continue class. Minokichi sat back in his seat the moment he did.
If you wanted to scold me for not paying attention, you could've just done so. Why are you beating around the bush? Minokichi asked internally. He turned to look outside the window again, figuring it would only cause unnecessary trouble if he said it out loud.
Minokichi's eyes soon widened slightly when he heard whispers around him.
"Why are you even here? Go home already if it's so easy!"
"He better watch his back if the tests become harder after this..."
"Seriously, we get it. You're smart, so why don't you go show off at another school already?!"
"Does he really think so highly of himself just because we don't get good grades...?"
"Tch, what's wrong with him?"
The young boy frowned at that last comment. He almost turned to the one who said that. Thankfully, he restrained himself. A sigh was the only thing that barely escaped his mouth. I suppose that would be a safe assumption from their perspective...
As Minokichi finished thinking that, he felt his phone rumbling in his pocket. With a sigh, the young student placed his hand on his shorts as if to check that he hadn't lost his phone without putting his hand inside the pocket.
After a second without moving his hand away, the phone stopped vibrating. Minokichi removed his hand from it before turning his attention to the window so time would pass faster.
When the school bell rang and his teacher left class, Minokichi felt his phone vibrating again. After looking around to be sure no one would see the events about to unfold, the 6th grader sighed before pulling out his phone. He was welcomed by Yuki-Jorō, who looked like a 3D model of a young girl with black hair, soft eyes, and skin pale as snow. She was wearing a white kimono. She seemed to be within Minokichi's age, small enough that Minokichi was able to see her completely through the tiny screen of his phone.
"Phew, I thought I was going to suffocate in there," the digital existence breathed a sigh of relief. Even if they didn't need air.
Minokichi tilted his head at her. "Can you even suffocate in the first place?"
"Hmm, probably not. But that's beside the point..." Yuki-Jorō pointed at her friend. The latter grew slightly nervous about the former's finger potentially exiting the screen. Someone who didn't know about her would see it, but thankfully it didn't happen. "Care to explain what that was about? Why was everyone badmouthing you?" she demanded.
Minokichi's eyes widened briefly. He remembered it was the digital girl's first time in his class when something like this happened. "Oh...it's nothing. Just ignore it." The young boy brushed it off.
Yuki-Jorō's expression became one of worry. "Nothin-, one of them just said they were going after you because of a test! How's that nothing?!" If Minokichi hadn't foreseen this and lowered the volume on his phone, someone else besides him would've heard that.
"They are just talking for the sake of it. Most of them aren't actually going through with it. And the rest..." Minokichi shrugged. "I'll deal with it when the time comes."
Yuki-Jorō's worried expression grew into a frown. "And...are you okay with that?" she asked. Her worried expression was directed at Minokichi.
No, Minokichi obviously wasn't okay with that, but he also knew that making a scene would only cause more trouble for him in the long run.
When he was about to relay that to Yuki-Jorō, a familiar voice called for Minokichi's attention. "Minokichi, Minokichi!"
On reflex, the 6th grader hid his phone and turned to Yokina Himawari, his second and most recent friend. She had orange eyes, a bright smile, dark-orange hair in a twin-tailed hairstyle, and one purple ribbon on each side holding it in place. Minokichi could see the ribbons weren't properly put on her hair, with the right one slightly loose. "Hmm? Yokina-san?"
Himawari pouted and crossed her arms. "Jeez, what did I tell you? You can call me by my first name."
Minokichi's eyes widened for a second before relaxing. "Oh, sorry Himawari-san. Thank you for reminding me."
The energetic girl's smile grew larger in satisfaction. "Good! As for what I wanted to talk with you about, did you know about the big promotion at the mall that will end today?" she asked expectantly.
The calculative boy raised a hand to his chin, trying to recall anything related to his classmate and friend before finally answering. "Hmm, I suppose I did see some ads mentioning it here and there whenever they appeared in the middle of the videos I watched on 'VideoSiteRed', but I always skipped them."
"Well...long story short, everything there will be at half price. So, I figured, why not go buy some candy while I could and invite you while I'm at it?" The bright girl explained to Minokichi.
Minokichi slowly nodded in understanding before tilting his head at her. "Huh, are we going there just to buy candy?" he asked, slightly taken aback by how Himawari planned to take advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime bargain.
"No, I'm gonna buy candy together at HALF-price. There's a difference!" Himawari smiled smugly, proud of her answer. "So, are you free after class?"
Minokichi tried to recall if there was anything he was supposed to do today before shaking his head. "No...I don't think so."
"Great!" Himawari said a little too excitedly than she intended if Minokichi had to guess from her following reaction. "I-I mean...good, yes, then we will go after school is over." She declared before nervously turning away and returning to her seat.
As Himawari left, Minokichi soon heard a barely audible chuckle coming from his phone. "What's wrong?" he asked Yuki-Jorō.
The digital spirit chuckled. "Oh, nothing. I just found it cute the way she was while trying to invite you so you would cheer up."
"Oh...I see. Thanks for telling me. I would have never guessed she would see through me so easily..." Minokichi trailed off, unsure how to feel about worrying two of his newest friends in such a short time.
Yuki-Jorō stared at the boy who allowed her to live on his phone for a few seconds before sighing. "Seriously, what would you do without me..." she muttered to herself.
"Uh, what was that?" Minokichi asked, not having caught everything Yuki-onna had said.
The girl in the white kimono quickly dismissed his concerns. "Nothing, nothing. I was just saying that you better save some candy for me!"
Minokichi slowly nodded in understanding. "I see...I'll keep that in mind."
As the boy turned to look out of the window, his expression brightened slightly as he now had something to look forward to today. Hmm, maybe I should also buy some for her too?