At 9:05 A.M., the majority of the students in Class 1-A had already settled into their seats, though there were still a few unoccupied seats here and there. As the homeroom teacher for this group of students, Nakamura Hiroto took a moment to study the faces of his new charges before introducing himself.
At the youthful age of 25, it was Hiroto's first time teaching a class, and he was understandably nervous. However, he tried to put on a brave face and projected his voice so that he could be heard over the chatter of his students.
"Ahem. Good morning to all of you, students. It gives me great pleasure to be your instructor for Class 1-A this year. My name is Nakamura Hiroto, and I will be your homeroom teacher for this academic year. I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you and to help you achieve your academic and personal goals."
Despite Hiroto's sincere introduction, the students continued to chatter amongst themselves, paying little attention to their new teacher. Nonetheless, Hiroto remained undeterred and continued speaking, hoping that some of his words would reach the students' ears.
"So, uh... I will be teaching..." Hiroto struggled to capture the attention of his students who were either engaged in conversations with each other or busy fiddling with their phones.
Finding that he wasn't getting anywhere with trying to get their attention, Hiroto just proceeded with the roll call. "...Okay, class! Settle down. I want you to raise your hand and say 'here' if you're present," he said in a loud and clear voice.
After a few moments of waiting, he began calling out the surnames of the students, and one by one, they answered. "Araki-kun," he called out, and the student responded with a confident "Here."
"Asakura-san," he continued, and another student replied with an enthusiastic "Here."
As he went down the list of students, he noticed that three names were missing from the responses.
"Is Kabenashi-kun here?" he asked, but there was no response from the students. "No? How about Kiyomizu-san?"
Again, no one answered.
Hiroto was now growing concerned. It was odd for two students to be absent on their first day of school. He tried one more time, "Then, how about Kurayami-san?"
Once again, there was no response.
Hiroto couldn't help but feel concerned. Three students absent on their first day of school? That seemed odd. But then again, maybe they were just running late.
As if on cue, a male student suddenly entered the room and promptly proceeded to occupy an empty seat. Following closely behind him was another student, a female, who also took her seat without so much as a word of greeting or apology. It was quite clear that these two students were the two out of three who had been missing from the class, and their names were Kabenashi and Kurayami respectively.
The tardiness of the students did not go unnoticed, and their lack of apology was equally apparent. Without so much as a nod of acknowledgment towards their homeroom teacher, they made their way to their respective seats with a nonchalant attitude.
Hiroto's countenance displayed his displeasure, and a visible vein appeared on his temple as he queried, "Why are the two of you late?"
The male student cast a cursory glance at Hiroto before responding, "I got lost."
The female student mirrored the male student's behavior and nonchalantly replied, "I also got lost."
"I see," Hiroto's countenance remained visibly displeased, and the vein on his temple did not dissipate. However, he proceeded with the roll call as he tried to calm himself down.
"It appears that Kiyomizu-san is the only student who has yet to arrive. Nonetheless, let us commence our lesson."
Hiroto started to lecture, but the majority of the students in the class were not paying attention. Some of them were distracted, while others were solely focused on the two students who had entered the room late..
"I spotted the two of them together at the train station. They were seated beside each other on the bench," one student said to another.
"I saw them too. They were seated close to each other on the train. Do you think they are dating?" another chimed in.
"Perhaps they were on a date and that's why they arrived late?" a third student speculated.
The two students in question, Tsubasa and the girl, appeared to be completely unbothered by the attention they were receiving. The girl simply leaned her cheeks on her hand, while Tsubasa yawned, seemingly disinterested in the gossip surrounding them.
As Tsubasa's eyes drifted away from his surroundings, he found himself gazing out of the window. He caught sight of the bird, which he had observed earlier, still hovering in the same position in the sky. Though he couldn't get a closer look, he was sure that it was flapping its wings, yet remained suspended in the air.
"...What an unusual bird," Tsubasa murmured, not expecting anyone to hear him. However, to his surprise, the girl sitting across from him spoke up, acknowledging his comment.
"I agree, it's quite strange," she said.
"You can see it too?"
"Of course. It's like a speck of dirt on a white canvas, after all," she responded.
Surprisingly, the girl's comment mirrored Tsubasa's impression of the bird.
"I wonder what's going on with it," Tsubasa pondered aloud.
"Who knows?" the girl replied. "It's probably something beyond our understanding. Even Newton's law of universal gravitation couldn't possibly explain it."
Indeed, it was difficult to comprehend how the bird could stay stationary in the air without being affected by gravity. It was a phenomenon that defied explanation.
"..." Tsubasa suddenly fell silent, as if he had an explanation for the strange phenomenon, but he found himself unable to remember it.
He looked to the seat next to him, only to find it empty.
Feeling puzzled, Tsubasa decided to give up and rested his head on his desk, hoping to get some sleep.
***
Meanwhile, Kurayami Akari was sitting in class, but she wasn't paying attention to the teacher's lecture. Her gaze was fixed on the front, but her mind was elsewhere.
She wished for the class to end quickly so that she could focus on what really mattered to her. School was of little importance to her, and she had enrolled for a specific purpose - to find the "door."
Her motivation for being in school was solely driven by this purpose. She cared little about academics and had enrolled in the school to seek out the elusive door.
***
Tsubasa awakened to the sound of the ringing bell, signaling the end of the morning class. He rose from his seat and made his way towards the door, eagerly anticipating the freedom that awaited him beyond it.
On his way out, he encountered Akari, who also seemed to be in a hurry to leave.
The two exchanged a brief glance before stepping over the threshold and going their separate ways. Tsubasa made a beeline for the rooftop while Akari set off towards an unknown destination.
As he navigated the empty hallway, Tsubasa couldn't help but notice the distinct lack of students. At first, he was grateful for the lack of obstruction as he made his way towards his destination.
Although it made his journey easier, he found it peculiar that there were no students around, despite the morning class being over. It was highly unusual for the hallway to be empty at this time of day.
His footsteps echoed loudly in the deserted corridor... but there was another sound that he could hear as well. It was a faint sound that he couldn't quite identify, but it seemed to be following him.
He stopped momentarily, and the other footstep also stopped, although the other footstep stepped an extra one. That single footstep reverberated through the silent hallways, and slowly rung on Tsubasa's ears.
He continued walking despite this though, and he didn't seem to be bothered that someone—or something—was following him. He figured that it would go away on its own once it got tired of following him.
However, the footsteps continued to trail Tsubasa, prompting him to turn his head and identify the person following him.
As Tsubasa turned around, he saw a mysterious figure trailing behind him. The stranger wore a robe and a smiley mask that concealed their entire face.
Tsubasa's curiosity peaked as he inquired, "Who are you?" The stranger remained silent and slowly raised their hand to remove the mask.
Tsubasa was taken aback when he recognized the face of the stranger. The black-haired boy with glasses looked at him, tilted his head slightly, and asked, "Does this answer your question?"
Tsubasa was so shocked that he couldn't answer when the person standing before him turned out to be none other than...himself.
"It has been a while since you started living in this world. Why don't we switch places for a while?" the other Tsubasa said, wearing a mysterious smile.