"All things should be habit, but not habitual. Not performed by rote.
All things should be studied, then considered, and then acted upon."
-Goblin Slayer
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The afternoon classes were boring.
And unbelievably so.
I forced my eyes open, letting my ears do the work. History classes were still ongoing, a subject teacher whose name I forgot, yet again, is currently teaching the class.
I'm not smart nor did I have any rich upbringing for me to call this class boring, so, why exactly am I calling it boring? Simple, it's because I've already gone over this lesson a few weeks ago by the books given by the teachers themselves.
I made sure to read every subject's book far enough that I'd have no trouble even if I didn't listen to class.
There's the fact that some things aren't included in the book, hence, Hoshinomiya-sensei comes at play.
"The Sengoku Period had a lot of..."
This was how I've been keeping up top grades, not only in class, but the whole school.
It's only been an hour or two after the announcement of the overall rankings, it must've been quite the surprise for the upper years. I should suppose that the teachers too, were taken by surprise.
Although occasional, our female teacher here takes a glance or two from me when she turns around and asks the class a question. I shall expect more prying eyes from the teachers and my classmates during the whole remaining school hours.
I returned to our classroom just in the nick of time, saving me the hassle of answering their questions, albeit, temporarily.
Once all the classes conclude, I'll ready myself for the questioning, not only from my classmates, other students from other classes too should be considered.
"Warring States period?"
"Yes, there was a risk for near constant civil war."
As one could understand, our current lesson for the day is the Sengoku Period. Battles and the like.
It was an interesting skim through history the first time I've read it, sadly, my current self wasn't in the mood to indulge in that lesson, again.
Riiing
A ringing sound came from our teacher's phone.
It was probably to keep track of time and not overextend her class. With that, the history class ended.
It felt a little early, something like 3-5 mini-sh? I'm getting a bad premonition from this.
"I'm sure you all have questions about the rankings, feel free to use the 5 minutes of free time I gave you to your hearts content."
The female teacher smiled at the class, going out of the room with her materials on hand.
I see. It looked like she was just being kind to us, the students, I'm not that suspicious... But maybe the school has pulled something again? Something like a confirmation test.
"See ya tomorrow, Sensei!"
"Take care!"
It always went like this. Class ends, farewells and see you tomorrows.
All of the classes might have similar happenings but I'm sure only Class-B looks forward to the morrow classes this much.
"Thank you for your work."
I muttered. The sun got through our windows, since my classmates opened it, I felt the wind blow over a part of the classroom. This makes me feel slightly more sleepy than I am already.
"Hey, hey! How'd you do it?!"
I ignored that voice for a moment, enjoying the wind as it brushed my hair.
"Don't shake my chair..." That was a bad choice I made. Amikura and my classmates were too excited for this.
A circle quickly wrapped my chair, leaving me no room to even try and escape.
My friends only looked at this spectacle, I'm sure they got the feeling I was asking for help or something.
Kanzaki averted his eyes faster than I could blink.
Sō looks like he's contemplating whether he should help or not, he was looking at the people around me hesitantly.
"Please calm down everyone!"
Ichinose is trying her best to help,
I felt thankful, although it wasn't helping much.
"What do you want to know?" I wore a tired, shaking smile.
Even I'm not sure if I'm pissed or genuinely tired.
The questions and gossip stopped for a second or so, before it resumed.
Did they not know what to ask?
"You got all A's! I didn't even get one!"
A boy by the name I-don't-know, flashed his ID card to us.
Hardworking? Mediocre.
B-. C. C-. D. B. B.
The crowd surrounding me went all, ohhh, and ahhh's.
It was pretty well known already that Ichinose got second in this class and year. The pride of our guys must've hurt quite a bit.
"It just so happens that the things I've studied beforehand came in handy, hahaha."
I told half the truth and half a lie.
It's certainly true that I studied things beyond my year level, things that wasn't thought in my grade of school just for the sake of it.
That doesn't mean its been helpful in ANHS though...
"Then what about your physical abilities?" A friendly voice that was close to me asked that question.
To prevent my classmates from going further? Or that she just didn't want to be left out... Amikura banged hers and my seat together.
"Exercise, before this I did some other physically demanding tasks too."
Mountain climbing, long walks, cycling, sports, chess. I threw myself in all kinds of things to drown out the mediocre existence that was my past self.
I couldn't get enough and continued,
I didn't necessarily get to a high level in each of those things, one needs to have an affinity and good compatibility with some things, of course. Still, I was able to learn a decent level in things I could use in real life or, the now first year high school.
When a certain someone asked me,
A shorter life for more pleasure, or
A longer one but with a lot more suffering?
It was a question directed for the older folks, I wasn't sure why he asked me that.
You could say I'm a little bit too young to answer that question. Nevertheless, I chose the last one.
What's suffering to others may not necessarily be the same for me.
I sighed as I let the others continue asking questions.
"Are you tired?"
Amikura poked my face with a worried tone.
"A little, but nothing to worry about."
Rather than physically, my mind was used a lot more than my body.
Soon enough, our next teacher came.
The crowd that formed on my seat quickly dispersed and went back to their own seats.
_________________________________________________
After Class.
I would've enjoyed going straight to my room, sleep for at least 12 hours and go on the next school day.
Unfortunately, this is but an imagination I have. Class-B is taking the current situation very seriously.
There wasn't really much to do, in my opinion each individual should focus more on improving their academics and physical ability, those 2 were the main things one should prioritize.
"Should we go visit Class-D?"
Don't do this.
A normal visit would be fine, knowing them they're a lot likely to do something too-good.
I shook my head left and right, if one warning wasn't enough then I'll just leave them be. It would be a whole lot better to give Class-D a break or two and let them suffer the consequences.
That would at least teach a lesson or two. I thought they were going to do something much more important, only to hear those words.
I sighed one last time. Whatever,
I hope they'd at least listen to my advice.
"To be safe, study more or exercise more. It's fine to do either and if you're feeling good, why not do both?"
My words sounded a lot like I was talking to myself. A lot probably got the wrong idea about my murmurs.
I grabbed my bag and stood up. Hope one or two classmates takes my advice to heart.
"Take care."
As I reached for the door, Himeno bid an uncharacteristic farewell.
"You as well." Everyone looked to be planning something, only few didn't join in, thinking it was a pain.
She's one of those, for better or worse her communication skills are improving.
____________________________________________
.
.
.
Footsteps from countless students rang all around the hallways, most were walking normally, some ran, only to be called out by a teacher.
The sounds slowly disappeared as
I got closer and closer to the stairs.
I got out of the stairs quickly, the more I use these stairs, it feels like the time when I ascend or descend it, gets quicker and quicker.
After I got out of the building, I took a glance from my left, to the right.
Good, the benches are free.
I feel as if I'd sleep the moment I go back to my room, now deciding to just sit on the closest available bench.
When I sat down, I felt some weight off my legs. I didn't have something in mind nor am I waiting for some friend of mine to call out, I was just taking a simple break.
Sigh. Was I exhausted because of my classmates, or for pulling out an act, then succeeding? Whatever the case, the fault lies within my inability to adapt better.
Forcing my body to provide the best results in Phys ED.
Memorizing the pattern of quizzes and tests from all the subjects.
It's ironic how the day-to-day talks my classmates and I had was the one to tire me out the most.
I closed my eyes, hanging my head as
I slumped my shoulders back.
"Is the seat besides you available?" Then came a familiar voice from up front.
"Not really... Feel free."
I managed to give out a tired response, not bothering to fix my appearance, as I'm sure she couldn't care any less.
"Our subjects have surprising difficulty don't they?" Couldn't have said it better.
"The difficulty suddenly climbs up or fall down, this school is too weird for its own good."
I noticed this a little earlier than most students. When I was scrolling down on our math lessons, the equations suddenly take a turn or two after the relatively easy questions.
"Truly a pain. It's either too easy or ridiculously hard." Kamuro gave a gentle sigh of her own, plopping her bag down the ground just as gently.
Complaining like this is really good for the both of us. From time to time.
"Some others too. I noticed that, on some kind of weird day patterns, we have to write far more than usual in our history subject."
"You noticed that too? That's what
I was most annoyed about. There were too many details that we had to write, I shudder to think if most of those really matter."
We continued our venting, maybe to the air? To each other? Times like this one is why I'm glad to have friends to complain with. A lot of the stress we gathered in the month was going away. I just know it.
How many minutes did we complain together? Maybe it was an hour?
It mattered not, for that time was already done, for the day.
"Uff- That was what I needed."
Kamuro stretched her arms up in the air like a cat. She stood up with a sigh, grabbed her bag and turned to leave.
"See ya tomorrow." I stood as well, not for the dorms but for somewhere else.
"Yep, you too." She then turned completely around as she waved her hand.
I internally smiled at this. It was almost too subtle for me to notice, but I still did.
Kamuro is starting to use more casual words, as well as casual friend things.
Is this how parents feel when they see their children grow up?
I feel like I'd get buried alive if Kamuro somehow had the ability to read minds.
Shaking of that terrifying thought,
I pulled out my phone that was vibrating rather violently.
A call? I was a little perplexed seeing an unfamiliar number call me.
A friend of a friend perhaps? I gave and took phone numbers, I guess someone calling like this isn't all that weird.
"Sadi here, may I ask who is calling?"
What could this be about?
"H-hello... Hello..."
"....What are you doing, Ichinose?"
"... It's a long story, if Sadi-kun doesn't mind, can we meet on the park?"
"Okay, be there ASAP."
Using another issued sim card that's unknown even to me, plus her voice sounded a little depressed... It might or might not be be since it's a bit of a stretch to understand everything via phone call.
The situation must be pretty weird if she's going through all this trouble for something, or someone.
I thought up of various reasons of why she's called me like that, walking at a fast pace, nothing concrete is really coming up as I lack too much information to get to anything.
The school issued a back-up sim card if the first one somehow gets damaged by an accident, still, I come up short on why she'd need to call me using a new number.
"What's the matter?" I heavily softened down my gaze, staring down at the depressed figure of Ichinose.
She's seating on a bench, much similar to myself just a minute or two ago. The classes already ended quite a while ago, I'm surprised to see very few students passing by this part of the park.
"I'm not sure myself, so, please don't get angry..."
She finally mustered up some strength to look up. I raised an eyebrow when I saw her really exhausted demeanor.
"I won't, don't worry." As if confirming my words, I slowly sat down besides her.
I didn't know if this did good or bad, she kept quiet for a few seconds, and then, finally spoke.
"Promise you won't tell anyone?"
"I promise." I couldn't tell her the fact that promises occured very rarely to me, that's why I can't say for certain.
Ichinose sighed, she eased up after digesting my words. Then, as if saying good, she very lightly slapped her cheeks with both hands, resolving herself for something.
I simply watched this, though I've yet to confirm, there's a decent chance it's about a classmate or something close to that or... Could it actually be her...?
"It's actually about Chihiro-chan..."
Bullseye. I could've enjoyed this situation had it been anything but this.
I caressed her hair gently.
I understand.
"Don't get your hopes up, for the moment, the best I could do is listen."
To my reply, Ichinose nodded weakly.
She was starting to pick up bits of my current actions.
I knew this would happen at some point. Ichinose is kind and gullible, those who are close enough to her knows just how hard it takes for her to deny someone straight up.
I couldn't have suspected Shiranami to take advantage of her, if I didn't see her lovestruck to Ichinose, I wouldn't have.
"She's surprisingly straightforward..."
If I didn't focus enough, I wouldn't hear her depressed mumblings.
"What did she do?" I could hypothesize once more. It's much easier in this case, love is seriously bad, especially if it's unrequited or uncertain. Another layer of bad news for it being love between girls.
"I still haven't confirmed it... That's why let's say we're only speaking in the assumption of, if." Her tone didn't make her sentence that, she wasn't sure. She's speaking like she just wants to deny the current situation, no confirmation was actually needed.
Ichinose took in a deep breath before continuing, "While at first, I thought she was playing a prank, but as the days passed her actions are getting more and more... forceful, just earlier in lunch, we were behind everyone else and she..." Tried to envelop our hands together.
Reading her mouth, I was able to get out those words. I'm a tiny bit uncertain if I should get involved or not, there's a usual double standards at play here.
Like how a normal person would see a guy randomly grabbing another guy's hand with affection in the eyes of that guy. Of course, it was a natural to say the previously mentioned person is undoubtedly gay.
Now, view it but with girls being the cast. Most in society would view it as, cute, when in fact, it isn't. Well, nevermind actually.
If Ichinose is weirded out of all people, then it must be pretty serious.
"Tell her straight up 'this is making me uncomfortable' so please stop."
Even if its a joke or a prank, that doesn't actually make it acceptable.
In fact, if it's a prank then I'll be more worried about Ichinose.
"I thought about that but..." It will surely hurt her feelings.
Ichinose closed her mouth to cut off what I was expecting her to say.
It's not as simple as, I want love, Give love. If you're being creepy then you better stop. This makes Shiranami far worse than a normal pervert, she's seriously manipulating Ichinose's emotional weakness to her advantage.
"She's making you uncomfortable, the answer is already there. You just have to give it to her."
Shiranami might be using Ichinose's kindness unconsciously or not, doesn't mean it's forgivable, she could go fuck off. The most irritating people are the ones who are emotionally unstable.
I mean, come on now, at least make sure you've fallen in love or something.
"That's the best course of action... yes, of course it is." She forced herself to agree. Gritting her teeth lightly to prevent something.
My words about her being an incompetent leader, the things I said might still be haunting her heart.
"Perhaps. It might not be, but it's the most logical approach."
This is a trial, let's see if Ichinose actually took my words to heart back then.