Sasaki And Miyano: First Year Students

First year of high school. The end of the first semester.

I was tired of school life itself.

Studying was a must. I am very well aware of that.

But it’s so boring that it didn’t motivate me and I couldn’t find anything I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

I didn’t know how to be competitive.

It’s constrained, it’s difficult, but we trudge through the present as best as we could, and we couldn’t afford to throw it away.

I, Sasaki Shuumei, hadn’t known of the whereabouts of my treasure at that time.

***

“Sigh……”

When I looked into the mirror in the morning, my hair was still speckled with color.

It’s so freaking sad……

After helping out in my parents’ bakery, I returned home and changed out of my clothes, putting on my uniform.

My sister, who had appeared in the hallway, laughed unreservedly at me as I sighed while looking in the mirror of the shoe cabinet. I felt the annoyance grew stronger but I held back.

“How many times have you looked in the mirror since yesterday?”

You had a good laugh since last night and you still didn’t seem to get tired of it.

Perhaps it was her brother’s high strung, nervous attitude that was amusing.

“I ain’t counting……”

The colour of the hair in the mirror was an unnatural mixture of pitch black and dull brown, with a strong reddish-brown tinge to it. I made a huge mistake by using black dye on my hair.

Last night, she laughed at me every time she saw me, saying how I looked like a calico cat. Ah… Everything was so annoying.

I was noticed by a teacher early in the first semester and was given a disgustingly huge amount of attention for my bad attitude, and of course, my light coloured hair.

I got tired of being told what to do, and decided to dye my hair black before the end of the school semester, which was supposedly more strictly monitored. And this was the result.

I wanted to skip school and I didn’t want to take tests. What fun was it to take a test right after the final exam and at the end of the school day? I was told that it was a pre-summer evaluation, so it wasn’t included in the grading. It was optional and one didn’t have to take it at all.

I’m stuck thinking about it. I’m the one who took the course with lots of remedial courses. I really want to escape, but I’m willing to hang in there.

But putting that aside, I was disgusted by the failure of the black dye job.

They would laugh at me in school anyway. It’s alright to be laughed at, but I’d definitely get involved with classmates I didn’t normally talk to. I was fed up just from imagining it.

“How annoying……”

“Buck up, go fix your mess even if it’s annoying.”

“Yeah……”

“Look at that~”

Even without being told, I knew that I had to fix it. I know.

When you go with the flow to avoid the hassle, you were the one who paid the price.

I had already experienced the folly of being lazy and drifting along, which ultimately led to unnecessary trouble, a lack of motivation, and scattered results back in middle school.

I would like to think that I’m now better than I was previously.

At least I’m reaching school more punctually than I was back then. I still tend to skip classes, but I don’t think I’m throwing my studies away. Even today, I’m trying to finish off the end of the semester by dyeing my hair black!

I’m aware that I’m not in an objectively praiseworthy state. It’s not like anything had changed dramatically. 

It’s still a pain in the ass, but I’m sure it would still be fine.

All the best to me……

I took something I had thrown out in front of the doorway and shoved my feet into my sneakers.

“How about your bread? Have you taken it?”

“I’ll finish it somewhere else by morning.”

“Have a good day.”

“…… Yeah.”

It’s a matter of timing but we rarely send each other out. It’s been a long while since my sister greeted me. I’m still not too used to it. I nod lightly to hide my embarrassment.

“Bye,” I responded as I walked out the door, with the summer sun dazzling my eyes.

It was only a few steps forward, but the heavy heat clung to my skin, and this was enough to discourage me from doing anything else.

When I arrived at school, just as expected, the reaction of those around me was terribly annoying.

Starting with Ogasawara saying things like “I haven’t seen a black one in a long time”, I was annoyed by the rehashing of episodes from first and second year of middle school. Moreover, Ogasawara had no change in appearance whatsoever, with highlights in his hair still in place. What was the meaning of this?

Naturally, he was caught by the disciplinary committee and was called out in the homeroom.

As for me, although the speckled pattern caught their attention, I was able to avoid the penalty for getting a black dye job. In the end, I guess it’s the attitude that mattered.

Even Hirano, who was a disciplinary committee member, was blond and usually gave off a bad boy look, but was able to get off the hook. Maybe it’s because he showed an attitude of following the school’s rules. In other words, I just have to be aware of the boundary in my own way.

Trying to change everything at one go was too restricting. It was impossible to give your best when there was too much pressure.

“Hm? The colour’s back.”

Ogasawara, who came to visit me without an appointment, looked at my head seriously as soon as he opened his mouth.

After a catastrophic black dye job, my hair was re-dyed twice and finally came back beautifully. I did not exposed the fact that I consumed a great deal of my sister’s treatments to keep my hair undamaged.

“Yeah. I’ll never dye it black again.”

When I grumbled about how hard it was, Ogasawara chuckled in amusement.

“You’re gonna be left behind.”

Yes. Apparently the only penalty for dyeing hair was detention and a sermon!

The students were given a simple reprimand not to get wild or get carried away just because it was before summer vacation.

When Ogasawara and other friends told me, I couldn’t believe my ears.

――Just for such a thing.

“The one who gets left behind will get it worse.”

Sighing, Ogasawara started to rummage through the CDs next to me.