At lunchtime, in Class 1-D of Kitagijuku High School.
Back in Japan in 2003, high school students didn’t have nearly as many ways to entertain themselves during lunch break as they would twenty years later.
Adolescent boys gathered in little groups, gossiping about which girl in class had gotten a boyfriend or whispering about how one girl seemed to have developed more than before.
The girls, meanwhile, clutched the fashion magazines they had painstakingly saved up to buy and did their best to imitate the models inside.
Their youthful faces were covered in makeup far heavier than their age called for.
Yet somehow, it only made the unmistakable awkwardness and energy of youth stand out even more.
Among the students, three high school girls sat together with their bentos.
The long-haired girl leaning eagerly forward was Yumi Takahashi.
The bespectacled girl beside her was Aoi Fujiwara.
Sitting between them with her head lowered and barely saying a word was Ryoka Konoe.
“By the way, Ryoka, I heard someone new joined your art club.
Who is it?”
Yumi asked while continuing to squeeze closer and closer to Aoi.
“Stop crowding me!
Didn’t Ryoka already mention it this morning?
Takahashi, you idiot!”
Aoi irritably shoved Yumi’s face away.
The girl was practically burying her head in Aoi’s bento.
How was she supposed to eat like this?
“I’m not an idiot!
Fujiwara, you jerk!
My test score was only about a hundred points lower than yours.
What gives you the right to act so superior?
Besides, I got into this school through kendo—”
Yumi had been about to raise her voice, but then remembered that they were still in the classroom.
She shrank back and muttered under her breath,
“Shorty.”
“What did you just say?!”
Aoi’s hearing was sharp enough to catch every word, and her face immediately darkened.
Her height had always been a sore spot.
Yumi wasn’t merely rubbing salt into the wound anymore—she was stabbing a knife straight into it!
Aoi’s expression changed at once.
She looked ready to launch another round of their personal “World War” when she suddenly heard Ryoka sigh softly beside them.
Aoi and Yumi exchanged a glance.
Without saying a word, they agreed to temporarily enter a period of “Cold War.” Their own argument could wait.
First, they needed to find out what was bothering Ryoka.
“Ryoka, why do you look so miserable?” Aoi asked.
“Yeah.
Is it because of that new art-club member?” Yumi immediately added.
“Just tell me who it is.
I’ll teach the guy a lesson for you.”
The completely mismatched response made Aoi glare at her.
Ryoka was obviously worried about something else.
How could it possibly have anything to do with a student who had only just joined the art club?
“You really are an idiot.”
“Huh?! Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
Who are you calling an idiot?”
Yumi immediately started protesting, but Aoi ignored her and continued questioning Ryoka.
“What happened, Ryoka?
Did you run into some kind of problem?”
“Mm…
it really is something from the art club.”
Ryoka answered with a troubled expression.
Earlier that day, their art-club adviser, Ryoko Okano, had specifically come looking for her.
Apparently, Okano-sensei thought Ryoka was on good terms with Tsukasa Higashino and wanted her to ask whether he intended to enter the Tokyo National Youth Art Award.
But since when was she on good terms with Tsukasa?
And besides…
Even though Tsukasa was incredibly good at drawing, Ryoka was still a little afraid of him.
She had the uneasy feeling that if she went looking for him, he might tease her again just like he had yesterday.
The more she thought about it, the more nervous she became.
“Huh?”
So it really was about the art club?
Aoi looked genuinely surprised.
“Well…
what happened was…”
Ryoka quietly told Yumi and Aoi everything that had happened the previous day.
She even mentioned that Tsukasa had drawn a profile sketch of her.
“That sounds kind of romantic, doesn’t it?” Yumi blinked, looking thoroughly puzzled.
“Is that how people in your art club flirt with each other?”
From her perspective, Tsukasa had already drawn Ryoka’s portrait.
Wasn’t that practically proof that he liked her?
Yumi had always been naturally optimistic.
Once she arranged the events according to her own peculiar logic, she immediately grinned.
“Isn’t that a good thing?
You should be happy, Ryoka!
I’ve heard of Tsukasa Higashino.
He’s really handsome, and now you’re telling me he can draw like that too?
You two are definitely going to be happy together.
Oh!
Have you decided what to name your children yet?
If not, I can help.”
“Ah…
oh…
um…”
Overwhelmed by Yumi’s momentum, Ryoka could only make a few confused noises.
After a moment, however, she scratched her head in bewilderment.
Wait…
How had she suddenly gone from talking about Tsukasa to marrying him and having children?
What exactly had happened here?
“You idiot.
Ryoka already said Higashino drew her without even asking her first.”
Aoi couldn’t resist pushing down on Yumi’s head. This chapter is updated first at novelping.com.
To her surprise, Yumi simply raised her face again and laughed.
“So what?
My parents got married without my grandparents’ permission too.
That’s completely normal.
People are free to fall in love.”
“…”
That wasn’t the point at all!
“Just read your horror manga!”
Thoroughly exasperated, Aoi grabbed the weekly manga magazine Shiver from the desk and tossed it at her.
Weekly Shiver was actually quite popular among high school students.
After all, in Tokyo in 2003, stories about the Seven Mysteries of a School had not yet become quite as overused among students as they would later.
Fresh variations on school ghost stories left plenty of teenagers hungry for more horror.
Yumi happened to love ghost stories.
She had always been unusually fearless.
“So…
is this Tsukasa Higashino actually bullying you?”
Once Yumi had turned her attention to the copy of Shiver, Aoi looked back at Ryoka.
“Ah…
I don’t think I’d really call it bullying.
He just wanted to sit in the same place as me.”
Ryoka shook her head.
Personally, it had felt a little like he was teasing her.
But maybe Tsukasa had simply thought her corner of the studio was quieter and less crowded?
“Ryoka, don’t let your guard down,” Aoi warned, clearly worried.
“My mother told me there are plenty of strange men in the world who are obsessed with high school girls.
Something is seriously wrong with people like that.
Higashino might be one of them, so you have to be careful.”
She continued earnestly, “Especially when you’re this pretty.
You absolutely have to be careful around boys like that.”
As she spoke, Aoi reached over and brushed aside the long side-swept bangs covering the right side of Ryoka’s face.
Hidden beneath them was a pair of large, clear, slightly bewildered eyes.
Her soft pink lips had a natural sheen, while the slightly curled ends of her black hair caught the light.
Her features were delicate and beautifully proportioned, and her skin looked almost impossibly smooth.
Even Tsukasa had failed to notice just how striking she really was.
If Ryoka simply kept her bangs out of her face, lifted her head, and stopped shrinking into herself, she would be stunning enough to make anyone look twice.
And because she was always hunched over with her head lowered, it was easy to overlook how much her shy posture concealed the rest of her appearance as well.
She really was beautiful.
Even though Aoi was another girl, she found herself momentarily captivated by Ryoka’s face.
“Really?”
Ryoka raised her head in confusion.
She didn’t understand what Aoi meant about strange men, nor did she think of herself as particularly pretty.
All she knew was that later she still had to ask Tsukasa whether he intended to enter the Tokyo National Youth Art Award.
The thought alone made her slump over the desk again, looking thoroughly dejected.