After some minutes of walking, both reached their class but just barely in time. Hayashi then swung the door open. The classroom was full of students already sitting at their desks. Baku and Hayashi were the only ones not sitting.
The class was divided into four lanes of desks, single desks on the left side, right next to large windows that had a beautiful view of the school's yard, single lines on the right side which was where the door was, and a double line in the middle where the desks were really close to each other, so students were practically sitting next to each other. There was also the teacher's desk on the front side of the class and a large whiteboard behind it. As Baku observed his new classroom, he noticed that Chisaka and Fukushima were also in this class. Strangely, they were sitting far from each other. Baku originally thought that they would be sitting together. Besides those two, the rest of the twenty students in this room were complete strangers to him.
Then, as Baku continued to observe his surroundings, the girl walked towards Chisaka who was sitting on the left side and sat at the empty desk behind her. "She sat with Chisaka? Great, where am I going to sit now?" Baku thought, as he was still standing in front of the door.
"Ehem…
Behind Baku was a tall man wearing a different uniform than him. The man had his deep-brown-but-almost-black hair pulled back, with his dark green eyes wearing a set of thin glasses. He was around 34 years old and looked tired. The man then touched Baku's left shoulder, and Baku quickly pulled himself away as he saw the man behind him.
"OH. You startled me... Just tell me to move if you want to pass through.
"You were blocking the door.
"I was?
"Yeah, and you still are. Move.
"Oh, I'm sorry.
Baku said as he made room for the tall man to pass.
"Good morning. I am your new teacher; you'll call me Eiichi from now on.
"You are the teacher?! I'm so sorry, I had no idea…
"Do not worry about it. You must be Baku Yoshite, right? The transfer student.
"Yes.
"From the looks of it, Fukushima is waving at you.
Baku turned to look, and Fukushima stretched his arm up high and was waving at him. That was when Baku felt his first-ever hint of embarrassment.
"I suppose you already know who Fukushima is. Go sit at the empty desk next to him.
"Okay.
Eiichi gave a friendly push to Baku and stood in front of the class's whiteboard.
"Good morning, everyone. This is your new classmate. Baku Yoshite. Be nice to him.
As Baku walked towards his desk, he looked around before he sat down. His desk was in the middle row on the left side of the class while Chisaka and that girl, Hayashi, were sitting in the left row. There was another student that made a strange impression on Baku because from time to time, he stared at him without saying anything. He had a sour look on his face, though, he was looking at everyone like that. He was sitting at the front desk on the right side. Baku once again ignored the stranger and sat down on his new desk.
"Yoshite? You lied…Wait—
Was it because—? Did you want to surprise us?
"No… this was an unpleasant surprise for me too…
"Unpleasant?
"Well, I was originally going to attend the Police Academy. I guess there has been a "change in plans" ... This whole situation has gotten way too complicated, and I care too little to solve it, so I'll deal with it.
"I see. Well, if you look at the bright side—
— with you here this year is going to be a lot more fun than expected! I can already feel it!
"Whatever you say…
Some time passed. Baku was still in class, not paying any attention to his teacher. He felt that even if he paid attention to Eiichi, it would not be beneficial to him. Dull memories came into his mind; from a youthful age, he studied a lot with his mother and later with his uncle. He thought about those days and strangely he felt a sense of nostalgia.
As time passed, he started processing what had just happened. He was supposed to attend the police academy, to learn new ways of finding that killer, though now he was trapped in an unknown environment with his uncle still in control of his life. And he was the reason he stayed at this school, since his uncle's last wish was to move on, and this school might be exactly what he meant.
Thinking about that principal though made him realize how curious he felt about that strange girl that was with him in the office. She was now the only thing he could think of. For some reason, he wanted to leave this class, just so he could talk to her. Then, some more minutes passed by and as he was looking at her, he noticed that she was writing something in her notebook. One hand holding a blue ink pen, and the other curling her short blonde hair. She then cut that page and looked at Baku, then looked at the teacher, then looked at Baku again. Eiichi had given some exercises to the whole class, so he was sleeping until they were all finished. The girl then crumbled the page and threw it at Baku.
"What is this...?" Baku thought as he quickly caught the paper ball before letting it fall to the floor. When he unraveled it, a letter written in the calligraphic style of this country's local language was revealed.
*Hey… you are staring at me… like a lot. From the moment the class even started…You are gonna give everyone the wrong idea... *
Baku just realized that this whole time, as he had fallen in deep thought, he was staring at her. Again, he felt embarrassed.
*Let's just meet after school to talk. PS Look at the second page behind. *
Seeing that, he flipped the paper and looked at the back side, only to see something so stupid that oddly surprised him.
*This message is going to self-destruct in ... 3...2….1…. *
Before he could even finish reading, Hayashi popped a paper bag full of air making a loud thunder-like noise that scared Baku and woke Eiichi up.
"WHAT?!
He felt highly dumb for yelling like that…. Everyone was looking at him. Eiichi; who almost fell off his chair, furiously got up and looked at them both. He then gave a hard punch on the whiteboard.
"...sorry?
"…
Then the whole class returned looking at their books barely holding laughter.
"Pfft…
Immediately after, Hayashi burst out laughing.
"AHAHAHA OH MY FUCKING GOD—He DIDIN'T just fall for it! Did he?!
"HUSH… ERITY HUSH…" Chisaka whispered.
"BAKU YOSHITE. ERITY HAYASHI. YOU INTERRUPTED MY CLASS." The teacher blurted angrily though; something was holding his anger back.
"Sigh.... I will let THIS ONE slide because it is your first day. Though, remember that these kinds of things must never ever happen again. Have I made myself clear?!
"...Yes?
"Erity… I told you many times to lay off the pranks… This is a high-class school, the students in this classroom and in every other classroom should hold a high-class performance. You are all here to learn and grow, such childish things must stop.
"Ohhh I know Eiichi… But look how innocent he looks and how easily he fell for it… it's just so unfathomably funny!
Eiichi rubbed his forehead, letting off another long sigh.
"Seriously….? Are you really going to continue like nothing ever happened?" Mouthed the student with a sour look on his face.
"Yes, Yuudai…
"Pretty childish for someone your age Hayashi...
"Ignore him, Erity…. Let that cockroach say whatever." Chisaka responded immediately.
"What's your problem Chisaka?! I was talking to Hayashi just now. No one spoke to ya.
Eiichi then clenched his fist barely holding his anger. Yuudai, the student with the sour look saw that and covered his face with his book.
"S-sorry… please continue…
"SFFFF… Where were we?
"Math" Chisaka and Yuudai responded at the same time.
"Yes, thanks. Unlike some other students, you two seem to be paying attention to what I say in class. Now. Baku, come up and solve the problem that I am gonna write on the board.
"C-come again?!
"If you cannot solve it then Erity will come and try it. Then if you both fail… I will fill you with a load of everyone's favorite! Homework.
Baku was cornered, the strange girl had sabotaged his "first impression" on this class and because of that the teacher already had his eye on him. Even though the situation seemed bad, seeing how Erity looked at the problem Eiichi was writing on the board, made him feel like he had to do something, to help himself and put the girl at ease. Eiichi wrote a mathematical problem. A hard one, one that no other student could solve since this one required a theorem that he had not taught the class yet. Eiichi wanted Baku to tell him exactly that. Though something completely different happened.
Baku stood and looked at it for two whole minutes. He knew that this problem required using an integral, something he had already studied before. He started making attempts. Everyone else had already started before him in their notebooks. Though their tries were to no avail. The first and only student that finished was the boy sitting in the front, Yuudai. He looked like someone that did homework for fun. Eiichi then looked at his results.
Yuudai seemed like a very prideful person, one who would overestimate himself to boost his self-confidence. When he finished, Baku also looked at him, though he did not just look, he observed. He was slightly different from the other students. Baku felt distracted.
How could a normal high schooler solve a problem like that? There was no way. As Eiichi checked Yuudai's answer he gave him a pat on his light blue dyed hair and walked off.
"Yuudai over here actually almost got it right! That is my second top student!" Said Eiichi with a smirk on his face.
"Almost?! Did I miss-calculate someth--
"Eiichi. I solved it." Baku quickly responded.
"What?! Let me check that.
Eiichi swiftly went over to the whiteboard and looked at the solved equation for at least 5 minutes. He could not believe what he was looking at.
"It is … correct.
"Who is this guy….?" Whispered Yuudai to himself as he felt his ego slowly deflate.
Baku sat on his desk and looked at Erity again. She thanked him in sign language. Baku laughed, but right after that, he stopped as his heart skipped a beat. "When was the last time I laughed?!'" he thought. His mind felt empty. He could not remember.
"Woah, I didn't expect you to be that smart...
"It's nothing special..
"Are you kidding me? I didn't even know where to start.
"Well.. To be fair your teacher cheated.
"What do you mean?
"Integrals.
"What?
"The problem contained integrals, something he probably hadn't taught this class about.
"Oh. Well, that makes sense i guess... But wait. How did you solve it?
"I like studying, being ahead is regular for me.
"You are a first.
"Well if you need any help feel free to ask.
"You are that confident? Damn, well… thanks! I think that I'm starting to look forward to writing tests now!
"....
"Baku. You are looking a little pale… are you okay?
"...
"Baku?
"Oh. Y-yeah. I just need to rest a little.
"Rest? In the middle of class?
"Yeah, I won't sleep, don't worry.
When Baku wanted to feel more comfortable, to think, or just relax, he would always look at something that was far away. And since the desk he was sitting at was in the middle lane of the class, he had a clear view of the outside yard. He rested his head on his arm and just looked outside. He could already feel himself feeling more tired after every second that passed.
The class continued like every normal class. Baku managed to sleep for an hour or two. Then, after school, instead of going to the cafeteria like any normal student, he left some things in his new locker and headed towards the front gate.
When he stepped out of the second building, he saw that most of the students, even after their classes ended, stayed on campus, and hung out. He always wanted something like that, to be part of a friend group and hang out, just like them, but a part of him could never be that "Normal". While walking towards the golden outer gate, he heard a girl's voice calling for him.
"Hey, you! Grey eyes!!
Baku turned to look and saw the girl from the principal's office walking towards him with her hands behind her back.
"Me?" Baku said, pointing at himself with his finger.
"Who else is in front of me right now?
She looked out of breath like she ran just so she could catch him before he left. Her round purple eyes glowed brightly and as the wind blew, her blonde hair colour mixed with the rays of the now setting sun.
"Hayashi? Why did you call for me?
"Hey…
Something seemed to be bothering her.
"What? Did I say something wrong?
"No.. don't worry about it..
She lied. Then took a deep breath in and out, and looked at him once again reaching her arm for a handshake.
"I was just thinking, we haven't yet met properly. I'm Erity Hayashi. Nice to meet you!!
"I am Baku Yoshite, it's nice to meet you too." Said Baku, accepting the handshake.
"You didn't forget about my message, right?!
"N...No of course not..
He lied.
" Right… I wanted to thank you for covering for me back there. If I were up in front of that whiteboard, I would not be able to solve it so quickly. All the people looking... I would be distracted. Hehe…
"Well… if you think about it… the equation wasn't even taught to you guys.
"What?!
"This equation that he told us to solve required integrals. These are usually taught at the end of next year. Well at least in the country I'm from…
"So you are saying that we were set up for failure?
"I solved it, didn't I?
"Are you flexing your math skills right now?!
"I-I.. Sorry...
"pfft.. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Well anyways… thanks!
"You are welcome…
"... How did you solve it anyway?!
"I just knew. I like reading so I already knew how to do it.
"You are… a first. I have never heard anyone say that they like reading so much that they are studying for classes ahead of them….
"I wanted to ask...
"Ask anything!
Said Erity with that soft smile of hers.
"You are 'the' Erity Hayashi right?
"You know me?
"Oh no.. I just… have heard about you-
"From whom?! Did they say anything bad about me...??
"No. It was a girl I met when I first came here. I think her name was Chisaka–
"OHHH!! You met Yuumi?!
"Well yes.
"I hate her…
"What?
"I'm just kidding again; she is my best friend! What did she tell you about me?
"Nothing much. She just mentioned that she wanted to introduce you to me.
"Well, no need! We now officially know each other! Feel free to call me Erity from now on! Anyways, now that that is out of the way, I wanted to talk to you about something more important.
"Which is?
"Oh, we can't talk here... We should go somewhere more private.
"Why not here? Is it that important?
"W-well.. Kind of. Can we go somewhere else?
"Right now?
"Yeah!! Why not?? Got something more important to do??
"No, it's just that, I know very little about this city. I moved here yesterday, so the only places I know of are the mall, the train station, and my house...
"Great, let's go to your place then!
"My place?!
" Come on dude, I don't bite..." She said laughing softly and slowly shifting her look towards him staring deeply into his light grey eyes.
Erity's glowing purple eyes. Baku felt like his heart was being consumed by them. His heart rate had already started rising and his wands were now sweaty. He could once again not think straight.
"Fine..." he replied.
"Great!! Let's get going then!
And so they started their way towards Baku's appartment. While walking they had only short conversations about school and their teacher. How he looked so tired all the time and the prank that Erity pulled on him.
The scenery of the city was beautiful, on every road, you could still see the blooming cherry trees, a magnificent creation of nature. The wind blew and the rose petals were everywhere on the streets. Every building had one outside of it. The sun was still going towards sunset and as the sky was turning from blue to orange and from orange to a dark blueish purple. This place was beautiful and Baku was almost stunned by the beauty.
Forty minutes passed by and they reached Baku's front door. Inside the apartment block, on the left side wall, were large windows that faced the still setting sun. Right next to the door, was a plant inside a pot, and next to it, an emergency fire extinguisher.
As soon as they got in, Erity looked around with a shocked expression written all over her face. Baku's house was extremely clean. She didn't expect a guy's apartment to be so tidy.
"Here we are...
"Well, damn!
"What..?
"It's even cleaner than Yuumi's room.
"I live on my own, so my house isn't messy. And the fact that I moved in yesterday also explains the situatio—
—"On your own?".. Why is that? Where is your family?
"...
Baku's mind went blank for a brief moment. His left-hand shook and his breathing went slightly hazy.
"Why do you look so gloomy all of a sudden?
"I would prefer to not answer that question.
"Oh.. Did I step on a sensitive topic?! I'm sorry…
"It's okay, you don't have to worry about it.... Anyways what did you want to talk abo--
"I'm starving.. Do you have anything to eat??
"My… fridge is kind of empty. But I can cook ramen if you want. There should be two or three packs left.
"You can cook?!
"Well, I just know the basics.
Erity was excited. Like a kid in a playground. She seemed to be having fun.
"You do that, I'll go sit here.
"Define "here".
"On your couch?
"Is this really happening….?" Baku thought to himself.
Baku then went inside his room to leave his bag and shortly after he wore more casual clothes, he returned to the living room only to find an Erity asleep on his couch.
"Oh great.. Not only did a girl I just met invade my two days old house, but she is also asleep in it." said Baku to the walls. "Should I wake her up?!" "The ramen…" Baku continued in disbelief.
He started making ramen. Ten minutes had already passed. At some point, Erity's phone started ringing. Baku ignored the noise and continued making the ramen. "Surely she will pick it up at some point, right?!"
Wrong. Five minutes passed with the phone still ringing. Baku, a little annoyed now, went to see who was calling thinking that "It might be an emergency, and she just hadn't heard it."
Still, no sign of Erity waking up and Baku didn't want to be rude and wake her up himself. He looked at her phone, he saw that she was getting non-stop calls from a contact named "Demon" in English. Then the calls stopped. He wanted to look through the phone to see what that was all about but at the same time, he did not want to invade her privacy.
At one point he tried to wake her up by poking her on the head, but then suddenly, her phone got a notification and it scared him, making him accidentally touch her lips with his finger…
Baku, flustered, immediately stood up and walked away fast so she wouldn't find out what he did. His heart was beating very fast.
Baku walked up to her once again to see if she was okay. When he saw her, the sensation of her soft lips touching his finger gave him a strange feeling. His body temperature had risen a little. He tried to calm himself down, by shaking his head. He started sweating.
He looked at her once more. She was still sleeping deeply but also had a frown on her face. He concluded that she was just having a bad dream, so he let her sleep in peace.
Eventually, Baku went to look at her phone again. There was one message that she got and according to the user that sent it, the message after that one would disappear in a few minutes. Unfortunately, it had already been deleted. Erity also had a few unanswered calls from an unknown number.
He decided to put her phone down exactly as and where he found it. It wasn't his fault that she didn't see it after all. "Right?" That's what he thought.
As he was putting her phone down, that sensation of his finger touching her lips would not get off. He suddenly felt a strange desire. One he had never felt before. He walked closer to her, crouched on his knees, and moved his face towards hers. He was inches away from her, but as he was ready to do something he would most likely regret, she started coughing.
Baku felt that something was a bit off… Like he had completely forgotten something. At the same time, he noticed that the environment around him started getting foggy. He ran to the kitchen only to see that the ramen he was cooking caught fire. That was when he snapped back into reality. He quickly opened doors and windows. After that, he ran to wake Erity up. She was not responding. She was alive but as much as he yelled she would just not wake up.
Thankfully he thought of carrying her out and they both managed to get out safely. Following that, he grabbed as fast as he could a nearby fire extinguisher and ran inside to put the fire out.
Then, some hours passed by and it was now midnight. Baku had cleaned the whole kitchen, and re-made the ramen from scratch; this time without almost burning his house. After all that he went to sleep on the couch in the living room.
Early the next morning, Erity was the one to wake up first.
"…GH..whe-- where am I?!
She got up and looked around the room for a bit. She had no idea where she was or what she was doing the day before. She started aimlessly looking and then, moments after doing that she felt a sudden headache as she had just remembered what happened yesterday. That she slept at a stranger's house who she met the same day. Terrified, she looked under the blanket that covered her. She felt relieved to see that nothing seemed to have happened to her.
At some point, she stared at some boxes that were filled with a few items. She was a little curious about Baku, so she tried to look inside one of the boxes. Most of the boxes she chose to look at were filled with paperwork. Inside one of them, she found some files and an album with old pictures. She ignored the papers and went straight for the album. The album contained pictures of Baku and a woman she did not recognize. She looked a lot like him and next to them was one man that also looked in a way like Baku. She figured out that they could be Baku's parents. But some pictures were torn in half.
The last picture of the album was also torn in half but the other half was glued together again. There was Baku, the man, and the woman that was in the other pictures, and on the cut part, there was another man who looked a little older, holding a kid. That second man looked strangely pale in the photo. They were having a picnic on a large wooden table, in a forest with a stone path that led to a huge river.
As time passed she decided to close the album and go check on Baku. She got off his bed and slowly went towards the living room. Her body felt heavy and her legs even weaker so while walking, with her hand she was touching the left wall. As she was walking towards the living room she noticed that something in the kitchen smelled oddly awful, though since she was that tired, she decided to ignore it and go straight to Baku.
When she got to the living room, Erity saw him sleeping peacefully on the couch. He was bear-hugging a pillow, his eyes were harshly shut and his mouth was slightly open. Erity grabbed her phone from her side pocket and took a picture of him. After some small laughs, she actually tried to wake him up.
"Hey, Baku?
She whispered. There was no response. Erity decided to get closer.
"Baku wake up!
She yelled. After the second attempt, she got very close and whispered in his ear.
"Baaaku….
That didn't wake him either, so she yelled in his ear.
"BAKU!
Annoyed that nothing worked, she got up.
"Hmph.
And pushed him off the couch waking him in an instance.
"Gh.. What? Oh…. Hayashi... it's you…
Baku's eyes were watery and his vision too blurry.
"I... forgot you were here.
"Oh um sorry about that.. I tried other ways to wake you up but only this worked..
"Oh…
"I told you to call me Erity…
"Sorry…. Erity.
"You are a very heavy sleeper…
"I was tired yesterday.
"How did I end up inside your room? Last thing I remember is sitting on this couch, yet I woke up in your bed, I think... You did not do anything inappropriate while I was asleep, did you?
"I UH ...NO.
He lied. In his mind, her lips were still on his finger.
"I didn't do anything on purpose. I can explain how you got there… It turns out that I kind of suck at cooking… and I kind of started a fire because I got distracted…... I had to move you outside because as much as I tried, you wouldn't wake up. I put it out though. And after doing so, I let you sleep somewhere safe.
"Fire?!?!
"Y..yes. Oh don't worry about the ramen, I cooked it again after cleaning!
Erity paused for a second, to process everything she had just heard.
"You are telling me that you almost burned your own house and you cleaned it up on the same day, still you think that I'm thinking of the ramen? Who cares about the stupid ramen? Fuck the ramen. Are you okay?…
"Yes.
"What are you? A robot?!
"I like cleaning..
"Yeah sure... 'Cleaning robot…' I would be traumatized if something like this happened to me. I would never touch the kitchen again if i were you… How did you manage to start that fire? Didn't you watch it boil?
"I… got distracted…
"Sigh... Anyways. I almost forgot... Small unimportant detail but, while coming to wake you up, I noticed the kitchen smelled bad. No offence to the chef...
"That's strange… What do you mean?
"Oh I know nothing more than the fact that something stinks in there.
"Well then I'll go and check it out.