Tsukasa Higashino naturally had no idea what Koharu Hosokawa had gone through over the past two days.
But the fact that Urashima Publishing had finally contacted him meant that Ring still had a promising future.
In a good mood, Tsukasa stepped out of his apartment.
Even the building manager outside, the man who was always shouting about something, seemed unusually pleasant today.
Tokyo, Japan, 2003.
There was no Wi-Fi in this era, and smartphones did not yet exist.
Japan had only recently begun recovering from the effects of the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
The country seemed exhausted, as though it had only just dragged itself back onto its feet after being hollowed out from within.
For Tsukasa, who had come from the year 2020, it had taken more than ten days just to adjust to life in Tokyo in 2003.
As he walked along the sloping roadside, high school girls with dyed hair occasionally passed him.
Their exaggerated makeup made them look almost otherworldly, yet their faces still carried the unmistakable pride and immaturity of teenagers.
It was the Shibuya fashion trend that had remained popular in Japan throughout the early years of the twenty-first century.
In 2003, high school girls dressed like this could be seen everywhere in Japan—dyed hair, loose bubble socks folded around their calves, brightly polished nails decorated with rhinestones.
Teenage girls imitated the behavior and appearance of adults, desperately trying to make themselves look more mature.
The result, at least in Tsukasa’s eyes, was a rather awkward mixture.
Yet the girls themselves clearly thought it was the height of fashion, so they continued enthusiastically down the same path.
If Tsukasa remembered correctly, the Shibuya trend would experience another major surge in popularity around 2004.
Still, he honestly couldn’t understand what was supposed to be attractive about makeup so heavy that it looked like someone had scribbled all over their faces.
He shook his head and pushed the stray thoughts aside.
The school Tsukasa attended was called Kitagijuku Private High School, though the students simply referred to it as Kitagijuku.
Kitagijuku was a well-known private school in the surrounding area, with a strong teaching staff and excellent educational facilities.
The school was particularly famous for its arts and athletics programs.
Both its music and fine arts departments had placed in national youth competitions for high school students.
Recently, he had even heard that Kitagijuku’s judo club was aiming for the national tournament.
In short, it was one of the better-known schools in the Meguro area.
The original Tsukasa had earned good grades and, thanks to his handsome face, had also been fairly popular with girls.
However, after tragedy struck the Higashino family and Chihaya developed a psychiatric disorder, most of the girls who had once clung to him began avoiding him as though he carried some kind of disease.
To those somewhat vain teenage girls, apparently having a boyfriend whose family suddenly included a mentally ill older sister was more trouble than they wanted.
Tsukasa didn’t care.
In fact, not having a crowd of high school girls constantly hovering around him made life considerably more peaceful.
After all, he was mentally an adult.
He had little interest in getting tangled up in childish high school romances.
When Tsukasa entered the classroom, a wave of hot, stuffy air hit him hard enough to make him narrow his eyes.
It was already summer.
Tokyo’s heat was bad enough on its own, but the humidity hanging in the air made everything worse.
With around thirty students packed into the classroom, breathing the same heavy air, the entire room felt oppressively close.
To make matters worse, every electric fan in Class A seemed to have collectively gone on strike.
The bare three-bladed fans turned sluggishly overhead, producing an irritating creak with every rotation instead of providing any meaningful relief. Find the original chapter at g.com.
The moment Tsukasa entered, he could feel eyes turning toward him from every direction.
That couldn’t really be helped.
Chihaya Higashino had once been fairly well known at Kitagijuku, largely because she was exceptionally beautiful.
After she developed her psychiatric disorder, however, plenty of people began treating her misfortune as casual gossip.
Some even looked at Tsukasa with an inexplicable sense of superiority.
Tsukasa ignored them.
He walked over to his seat and was just about to sit down when someone patted him on the shoulder from behind.
“Hey, Higashino.
Someone was looking for you earlier.”
“Oh?
Thanks, Ushirohara.
Who was it?” Tsukasa asked.
The boy standing in front of him was Ataru Ushirohara.
He wore large glasses and had a straightforward, upright personality.
He had been on fairly good terms with the original Tsukasa.
They weren’t exactly inseparable best friends, but they could certainly be considered friends.
When Tsukasa had first transmigrated into this world, he had quietly extracted quite a bit of information about the original owner of his body from Ushirohara.
“Your girlfriend, I think.
Manaka from Class 1-B.
She said she wants you to meet her behind the school building at lunchtime.”
Ushirohara studied Tsukasa for a moment.
After hesitating, he leaned closer and lowered his voice.
“Listen, Higashino…
I think your girlfriend is probably planning to break up with you.”
“Huh?”
Tsukasa blinked.
Then he smiled.
“Is that so?”
He knew the original Tsukasa had a girlfriend.
But during the past month, he had been so busy adapting to his new environment that he hadn’t had any time or desire to deal with the relationship.
He had essentially ignored the girl for an entire month.
If Ushirohara hadn’t mentioned her now, Tsukasa might have forgotten about her completely.
Tsukasa looked positively cheerful.
And why wouldn’t he be?
He had long since passed the age where he believed a first love automatically had to become the love of a lifetime.
He was fairly open-minded about relationships.
If the girl wanted to break up, that was entirely her right.
Besides, Tsukasa himself was partly responsible.
Ignoring someone for an entire month without explanation was more than enough reason for her to want to end the relationship.
Ushirohara, however, knew none of that.
Seeing Tsukasa grinning so happily left him completely baffled.
Your girlfriend is about to dump you.
Why do you look so pleased about it?
You’re acting like my girlfriend is the one breaking up with me.
Wait!
Realization suddenly dawned on Ushirohara.
He understood.
Tsukasa must simply be hiding his pain because he didn’t want his friend to see how heartbroken he really was.
After all, in high school, a breakup often meant the relationship was over for good.
Ah…
Ushirohara sighed heavily in his heart.
Then he reached out and gave Tsukasa’s shoulder a sympathetic pat.
“I understand.
Make some time after school, okay?
I’ll treat you to something to eat.”
“I’ve got something to do after school.”
Tsukasa waved him off.
He was telling the truth.
He wanted to bring Chihaya to school with him, and doing that would obviously require the school’s approval.
Naturally, getting permission wouldn’t be easy.
The principal wasn’t going to make an exception for Tsukasa simply because he asked nicely.
Recently, however, Tsukasa had heard about the Tokyo National Youth Art Award, a prestigious competition for high school students.
Kitagijuku was a school that prided itself on arts and athletics, so it placed enormous importance on honors and achievements from outside competitions.
If Tsukasa could win the Gold Award outright, he might gain enough leverage to negotiate with the school regarding Chihaya.
He planned to visit the principal’s office at lunchtime today.
If everything went smoothly, he would head to the art room that afternoon and see what preparations were needed.
As a former professional painter who had held several exhibitions in his previous life, Tsukasa didn’t think winning the Gold Award would be particularly difficult.
Ushirohara, meanwhile, misunderstood him yet again.
He assumed Tsukasa had been dumped and simply wanted to spend some time alone.
Ushirohara deliberately let out another long, dramatic sigh in front of him and patted his shoulder once more.
Then his expression changed instantly.
Smiling brightly, he turned away and went to find his own girlfriend, asking whether she wanted to go out for something to eat that afternoon.
Tsukasa ignored his theatrical performance and quietly organized the day’s schedule in his head.
First, he would go behind the school building at lunchtime and quickly settle the relationship issue.
Then he would visit the principal’s office and discuss Chihaya’s situation.
If everything went according to plan, he would spend the afternoon checking out the art room.