Episode 89 – Rumored Transfer Student

The next few days passed. Time just passed without any concrete action from me. Today is the first day of school after the weekend. If Miura’s story is true, he is transferring to this school today. I heard that he is not in my class, but in the class next to mine, Shinkai’s class, but I wonder what kind of chemical reaction will happen. I don’t have the latest data since I stopped going to school in the middle of the day.

“Good morning.”

“Yeah, good morning.”

I moved to the living room and greeted my sister who was already awake. Until now, my sister had already gone to school by the time I came down to the living room because of the student council work, but now she had more time to relax and spend her mornings at leisure.

But we never went to school together. It was not that either of us refused to go to school together, it just happened naturally. We staggered our commute to school as a matter of course, and we greeted each other and left the house in a very natural way. To put it bluntly, it was no different than before.

The only difference is that now is……

“Hurry up and wash your face. I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Sorry, sorry.”

The difference is that we now eat breakfast together. Until now, we used to spend our mornings separately due to differences in school attendance times, but now we share the same mornings. This is probably the biggest change in my daily life.

[ [Thanks for the meal.] ]

And so I eat the breakfast my sister has prepared for me. It’s a simple menu of toast and salad that doesn’t use much heat, but I’m still grateful that she makes it for me. And it’s not cold because there’s almost no time lag between cooking and eating. It’s very warm.

(Well, I’ll just have to wait and see.)

While eating my toast, I think about my future plans. I tried to approach the Yukihana siblings a little, but no concrete action has come back from them yet. My guess is that they will contact me again this week, but I’m going to hold off on that for the time being.

(It’s not just me. For Shinkai, this is a wall to overcome.)

I had a certain possibility after that sports festival. That Shinkai would notice my existence after seeing me run like that. I can’t say for sure since I haven’t checked this one yet, but it’s more likely that she is aware of my existence since she is that kind of person.

Shinkai, who noticed my existence, would definitely have tried to find me. However, I have yet to see any movement in that direction. The reason for this is definitely triggered by Shinya’s transfer to another school. I’m sure Shinkai has something in mind for him.

It could be a three-way battle, or it could be me versus them, with the two of them colluding. Either way, it would be an inconvenient development for me. And it’s funny because I have almost no allies.

(But I know what my ultimate goal is.)

All I can do now is to keep going toward that goal.

So I leave the house after my sister. On the way to the convenience store, I do my usual routine of buying lunch, and spend the morning as usual.

Then I arrive at school and enter the classroom. I don’t know about the other class, but at least there is little change in this class. Except for the quiet neighbor sitting next to me.

“……”

Yukihana is not reading a book as usual, but resting her chin on her folded hands and staring blankly at the sky with her noise-canceling earphones on. I have been next to Yukihana until now, so I can tell a clear change. Yukihana now seems to have lost all sense of emotion. But her eyes are not dead.

(Impatience……tension. Or hatred)

I sensed such emotions swirling in Yukihana’s heart. I thought about what position she would be in if the Yukihana family and the chairman were connected. At the very least, she is certainly not the kind of guy who would be involved in something risky.

(That wouldn’t explain the impatience of Yukihana Hisui.)

Hisui, whom I saw the other day, was somewhat agitated. That’s probably why he took such a hasty action to contact me. In other words, something troublesome is about to befall the Yukihana siblings in a way that directly involves them. I thought that would be directly related to Shinya’s transfer this time…….

“……”

Anyway, the time limit had already passed.

I did everything I could while I still had time. Then all I can do is sit on the sidelines until the time comes. At the very least, I will ensure my own safety, but I have no consideration for any other parties. I wonder what he really transferred to the school for…..

(Well, Yukihana I hope it’s not too late for you….like it was for me.)

I wish for something that I don’t even really mean and go with the flow.

And as time went on and homeroom ended, it was clearly different than usual. Gradually, I hear a buzzing in the classroom next door. It’s always noisy, but today the buzzing is somehow different. It seems that the time has finally come.

“Hey, there’s a new student in the next class !”

It didn’t take long for word to spread that a transfer student had arrived in our school. A handsome boy had suddenly transferred to the class next to ours. Since there are rarely transfer students at this school, it’s not surprising that the people here, who are hungry for topics of conversation, are eager to hear about it.

He has already been solicited for club activities and is attracting a lot of attention, especially from the girls, because of his good personality. The boys, on the other hand, were more interested in the new student who made the girls say so much about him than they were jealous, and they wanted to go see him later, treating him like a panda at the zoo.

(The only advantage is that rumors about the rabbit-faced guy are drowned out.)

Rumors are killed at once by new rumors coming in. Even more so if it’s a rumor that’s familiar to us, at least for a few days from now it will be the focus of attention.

(……Yukihana has not changed since this morning.)

Yukihana, who had been acting strange all morning, was still staring at the scenery outside with no change since this morning. I don’t know what she’s thinking, but if she doesn’t move, I can’t move either. Normally, I would be the one to take care of things on my own, but having learned from my past experiences, I would like to avoid acting alone as much as possible this time.

For that reason, I will need the help of this girl who’s probably involved in something……

“……”

So Yukihana came to school that day and didn’t utter a single word.

A few dozen minutes ago, back in time. A man came to the next class and began to introduce himself in front of everyone.

“Erm, I’m Shishiyama Shinya. Nice to meet you.”

The man seemed a bit friendly. At least that’s the impression the students in this class must have had of him. He greeted them lightly with his hands in his pockets, giving off the impression of a big shot.

His former friend, Shinkai Sakura, was surprised to see him in two ways.

(Shinya kun….has changed, hasn’t he?)

He used to give the impression of being weak-kneed. But now he has a somewhat gruff demeanor and no trace of his former self. What surprised me the most was his somewhat strange appearance.

(There’s something a little strange about his hair. Maybe he dyed it?)

He now has the same black hair as most of the students, but there is something strange about it. It is as if he had dyed his hair black just before he came to the school. Perhaps he had dyed his hair a different color not long ago. In addition, his ears.

(Pierced holes. And a black bruise on his neck, which I caught a glimpse of. At least it wasn’t there when he was in middle school.)

Immediately after graduating from delinquency. Sakura, who had been friends with him, had that impression of Shinya, even though she thought it was impossible. What is that mark on his neck? It’s as if he has a tattoo…….

“Whoa, it’s Sakura chan. Long time no see.”

“Eh, ah, yes. It’s been a while, Shinya kun.”

Shinya, who had just finished introducing himself and was instructed to take a seat by the teacher, called out to Sakura on his way to his seat. That alone made the surrounding students noisy, but Sakura and Shinya didn’t care about it at all and just looked at each other for a moment. Then Shinya went to his seat as if nothing had happened.

(After eighth grade, he disappeared as if following him, but then he reappeared.)

After a long break, he transferred to another middle school without saying a word. And my classmates at the time, including myself, were surprised to hear it. I wondered where on earth he had gone, and maybe this would be my chance to ask him.

(Maybe I could even find out the truth about that day.)

Shinkai Sakura hates Tachibana Kanata. But at the same time, she also had doubts. Such a thing cannot be true. For this reason, she has investigated many things in her own way for several years, but in the end, she could not find out anything. That is why she is always in pursuit of the truth.

“……Ah.”

Then Sakura suddenly realized something. It happened just recently at the relay of the sports festival. From there, she can infer and come to a conclusion.

(Because Tachibana Kanata appeared, he reappeared?)

Then homeroom is over and it’s time for a short break. He had become the man of the hour, and in the end, I couldn’t talk to him.