The new week arrived. I got ready to go to school and left the house. Standing in front of my home's door, waiting for me, was Yuto-kun.
"Good morning!" he exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Goo... good morning." I replied, sounding sleepy and annoyed. I gave him a quick look.
He was wearing the same school uniform as me, only instead of a skirt he wore trousers. The uniform confirmed to me that it was all real. Yuto-kun was going to attend the same school as me.
"Why were you in front of my house?"
"Well, since we practically live next to each other, I thought we could go to school together."
"Let's make one thing clear. We are not close enough friends to go to school together, nor do I intend to change my habits just because I now have a neighbor my age."
That was only part of the real motivation.
If I were seen arriving at school with someone and word spread, I would have drawn more attention to myself, which was the last thing I wanted. And then if they saw me with a boy, everyone would think that there was some kind of relationship with this person and I didn't want him to become a target just because he was spending some time with me.
Plus, I was afraid that if we became friends, he would also turn his back on me to avoid being targeted, as it had happened in middle school. I didn't want to drag him down with me and keeping distance was convenient for both of us. Even though we weren't friends, I didn't want him to be treated the same way as me.
"And then I don't want others to find out that we know each other." I said to him with a serious look.
His expression suddenly changed and he asked me: "Why?" His expression shifted and suddenly turned serious. It was the same look he had in the hospital when he asked me why I tried to commit suicide. It gave me the impression that he knew the real motivation behind my request was not due to a whim, but more serious reasons. "Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked, feeling intimidated. "Nothing. Anyway, it's okay if you don't want us to go to school together. As for knowing each other, I'll do as you say." "Okay, thank you. I really appreciate it." So he walked off first and I waited a few minutes before following him, to maintain a certain distance.
After arriving in class and settling at my desk, the bell rang. Shortly after, the teacher walked in.
"Good morning, students."
"Good morning," we responded as we stood up.
"Sit down. I have an announcement to make. Today, you will have a new classmate, so make sure to get along with him."
Oh no! - I thought automatically as my mind started to wander.
I was afraid that Yuto-kun had been put in my same class. Concerned, I could hear the whispers of my classmates around me.
They too were fantasizing about what kind of person it could be. The boys were desperately hoping it was a beautiful girl, since the girls in their class didn't pay them any mind at all. I took a deep breath. Even though there had been more coincidences than I could have imagined those days, there were many sections in the school and it was very unlikely for such a thing to happen.
Yet, it was not entirely impossible either...
"Please, come in," he said, turning towards the door. The person in question stood in front of us.
"Hello everyone... I'm Nakagawa Yuto. I hope we get along."
I couldn't believe it. It was really him. Our eyes met for a moment before I quickly averted my gaze. On one hand, I was very confused, but on the other, I didn't want others to notice any signs that could give away that we knew each other. I could sense the boys' disappointment in finding out that the newcomer was not a girl, and the girls talking amongst themselves saying that he was cute. I just hoped that he wouldn't approach me to talk or greet me. Sure, we had talked about it before, but in the previous days, I had also understood what kind of person he was: one of those who don't think about the consequences of their actions or what people say. So, I wouldn't have been surprised if he had come forward, doing his own thing.
"Well, you can sit there at the back," the teacher said, pointing to the only empty desk at the back of the classroom.
"Alright," he said, and as he made his way to his seat, he passed by me.
I kept staring at the desk with my head down, pretending to be indifferent and hoping he wouldn't greet me. He sat at his desk without saying anything. He had done what I asked him to do. I breathed a sigh of relief.
When lunchtime arrived, while I was getting my things to go eat in my usual spot, the whole class approached Yuto-kun to get to know him and make friends. I arrived at the usual pile of boxes that hid the entrance to the terrace, moved them aside, and went through the window. As usual, I sat in the shade and began to think about how lucky I had been before. Maybe I had judged Yuto-kun too quickly; this time he had obeyed my requests despite my conviction that he would have ignored them.
"Tsk." At some point, I heard a noise coming from the window. Perhaps someone was coming onto the terrace. Once you leave, it's impossible to reposition the boxes in the exact position to cover the window, so it was likely that someone passing by had noticed the open window. I quietly crawled toward the corner to see who it was. I got even closer to peek out and bumped my head against someone's legs.
"Ouch!" the intruder said. I looked up.
"Yuto-kun!? What are you doing here?"
"I followed you."
"Huh?"
"When you left the classroom, I followed you because you had hurriedly left with your things," he said, smiling.
"Would you please leave me alone? Why did you come here?"
"What do you mean? Shall we have lunch together?" He sat down next to me and started eating his lunch. "Why are you here?" "I told you."
"I didn't mean that. Why didn't you stay in class with the others? They were all around you."
"Yes, but that was just the initial excitement for the newcomer. I have time to get to know them. Right now, I prefer to have lunch with you. Listen, do the others know about this place?"
"No. It was a coincidence. Once, while I was having lunch next to the boxes, I bumped into them and found the window. Since that day, I have started having lunch here. Apparently, they use the boxes to cover the broken window; otherwise, everyone would come here. Usually, when I finish and return to the classroom, I'm always careful to put them back properly to hide it."
"I see, then I won't tell anyone. It'll be our secret." For a while, we remained silent, continuing to eat, until Yuto-kun's attention was caught by a bird flying by.
"How beautiful, it can go wherever it wants," he whispered.
I stared at him for a moment. He had a melancholy look, almost as if he was tired of something, as if he wanted to go far away and not come back, as if he too had a burden. He reminded me a bit of myself.
"What's up? Why are you staring at me? Do I have something on my face?" he asked, curious after noticing I was watching him.
"N...no, nothing," I stammered. I was sure I was blushing. I certainly couldn't tell him that I was staring at him because something in his gaze reminded me of myself. It would have been strange and embarrassing.
"Ah, before I forget, here," he pulled out a cellphone from his pocket.
"My sister gave it to me, it's not brand new but not old either. She insisted on giving it to you, to apologize for the incident at the store, even though I didn't do anything wrong."
"What did you say, sorry?" I asked, even though I had heard very well.
"I didn't say anything." I took the phone and thanked him. As I tried to turn it on, I noticed something.
"It's already set up with my name," I said.
"Yes because I did something very important. I saved my contact. I did it myself, in case you didn't want to save it," he said with a slight air of superiority.
"I could delete it."
"Well, that's for you to decide. I hope you write to me so I can also save yours."
"I doubt it will happen," I said indifferently.
After lunch, the day went by quickly without any hitches. I wasn't bothered by anyone, perhaps because they were all fixated on the new arrival. That same evening, after taking a bath and lying down on my bed, I picked up the phone and went to the contacts. I still hadn't saved the contacts I had on my previous phone, not that there were many. I began to observe the only contact saved at the moment, that of Yuto-kun. Having never really interacted much with my peers, I still couldn't understand if I could consider him as a potential friend or not, but I was happy to have the contact of a classmate. Even though it was rather trivial, I was happy to have had a typical experience of kids my age. He had given me his contact but I hadn't given him mine, the situation didn't seem very fair on my part. It should be said that today he had been particularly considerate regarding my request to pretend not to know each other, so…
-From Yuto-kun-
"Beep" As I was about to go to sleep, I heard the sound of a notification coming from my phone.
I picked it up to check who it was from and noticed it was from an unknown person. Even though I hadn't saved the contact, reading the content of the message was enough to understand who had sent it:
-It's just out of courtesy.-
After reading the message, I naturally let out a contented smile. I fell asleep feeling lighter.
About a month had passed since Yuto-kun and I started sharing the school terrace during lunchtime. Every time, we talked about this and that, about the things we liked or annoyed us, and our hobbies.
It wasn't me who started the conversation, but him who consistently came to me on the terrace at lunchtime and started talking. Unexpectedly though, I had started to enjoy it. We also began to lend each other some books.
We had the same tastes, so it was easy to understand what the other person would like. In the end, he even gave me that book he had promised to apologize for entering my room without permission. I was sure I didn't want to have any relationship with him, but in those small moments, I enjoyed the sweetness of a normal adolescence.
Given my inexperience, I still hadn't figured out whether I could consider Yuto-kun as a friend and, consequently, whether I could open up a little more to him. I was still afraid to relive the same experience I had in the past. But later something happened that changed this thought of mine.
One day, right after that dream month, while I was preparing to go to the terrace, I noticed that someone had taken my backpack without my noticing. I searched for it all over the classroom but to no avail, so I decided to check outside. Almost in front of the classroom door was a window overlooking the back garden.
A sheet of paper with a message was stuck on the window.
-Look down.-
I leaned out and saw my backpack on the ground, in the garden. I immediately ran to retrieve it. Once there, I collected everything that had fallen out of the bag. The books were intact, but my lunch had spilled all over the ground. I immediately ran to the terrace, the only place where I would have felt more comfortable. I had reached the east wing of the building, near the staircase that would have taken me to the top, but in the rush of running, I bumped into a boy, making him drop his lunch from his hands.
"I'm sorry about that."
"Hey, Maeda-san, right? How do you plan on making up for this mess?"
"I...I said I'm sorry. I didn't do it on...on purpose."
"Could you offer me lunch as an apology?"
"Well, I...I can't." The boy's only goal was to intimidate me.
It was clear that he wasn't really angry about the lunch, he just wanted to scare me for fun. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't solve the problem by giving him my lunch. I tried to apologize, but he wouldn't listen. At that moment, a hand touched the boy's shoulder.
"She apologized to you. Why don't you stop?"
"Ah, and who are you? What do you want? It's none of your business."
"She's my friend and it is my business. It was just an accident. Don't you think it's a bit excessive to get angry like this? It was just lunch." I was stunned to hear his words. No one had ever called me a friend before.
"I told you it's none of your business. And leave me alone," he said, shaking off Yuto-kun's hand, "and what are you complaining about? We're talking about Maeda-san here," he said jokingly.
"And this... this WHAT DOES THIS MEAN."
Overcome with anger, he threw a punch at the boy's face. Due to the swiftness of his action, the boy had no time to dodge it and fell to the ground with a bleeding nose.
With that action, Yuto-kun had crossed the point of no return. Even though he did it to defend me, and even though I felt happy for a moment, I couldn't help but think about the consequences that this act would have on him.
He was a recent transfer student who hadn't made friends with anyone yet, and with that act, he would be ostracized like me, just for defending me. The boy got up from the ground and quickly grabbed Yuto-kun by the waist, pushing him down and pinning him to the floor.
He got on top of him and landed a straight punch to Yuto-kun's face. He took a few blows, but he managed to block the last one, and rolling on the floor, he managed to reverse their positions and push the boy back onto the floor. Just as Yuto-kun was about to hit him, one of the teachers passing by saw them and rushed over to stop them.
"That's enough, stop it!" the teacher exclaimed as he forcefully separated them.
"Everyone back to class and you two go to the nurse's office. As soon as classes are over, I want to see both of you in the teacher's room to discuss what happened. Now go."
At the end of the day, the two went to the teachers' room as the professor had instructed.
While waiting for Yuto-kun by the school gate, I started browsing the internet on my phone. Among the recommended news, I found one that piqued my interest: a new movie adapted from a series of light novels that I was very fond of was going to be released in a few days.