CH 4

"Hup."

From the moment we arrived until we got to the floor where our classroom was, all kinds of stares were directed at us, and as we were about to enter said classroom, Tasuku and Ayane were approached by students from other classes which they probably made friends with, so I went in alone. They stared at me with question marks on their heads, as if to say, ‘Who?’, although I wasn't really bothered by it. Sorry for my bland appearance.

I arrived somewhat early, but the classroom was already half-full.

"Morning. Shindou."

It was Kuramoto Tetsu, the first one to greet me with a lively smile on his face, as he came all the way to the entrance of the classroom.

He shaved his head because he was in the baseball club, but it suited him pretty well.

After homeroom on the first day of admission, he started off our first conversation with, ‘That side-ponytailed girl is really cute, huh,’ and he was a rather interesting guy with a gutsy spirit cultivated from playing baseball, mixed with some adolescent mischievousness.

"Hey, Kuramoto. Done with morning practice?"

"Yeah. Today, too! Speaking of today, that person you're...with..."

"Everyone, good morning!!"

"Good morning."

Kuramoto looked behind me and froze, and then the two people who should have been finished talking to their friends out in the hallway, Ayane's reverberating and Tasuku's quiet but clear morning greetings permeated the classroom.

"G-g-g-good morning, Harube-san! Asami!"

"Good morning, Kuramoto-kun!"

"Oh, Kuramoto. Morning."

Kuramoto greeting the both of them while staring at Ayane, looking somewhat nervous.

Hm~m. Love at first sight, huh?

"I won't let you have my daughter-guh!"

"Who’s Hiro-kun's daughter now!"

I involuntarily uttered father-like words, and then received a strong impact behind me. Rubbing my back, I turned around to see Ayane swinging out her school bag with both hands.

You, that bag contained textbooks and stuff inside, so that hurt, you know?!

When I looked at Tasuku, who was staring at me with a relaxed expression on his face, I decided to cry out to him.

Ayane noticed my intention and seemed like she wanted to shout out that I was a coward, but I wouldn't know anything about that! Hehe.

"Tasuku~. Ayane's torturing me~."

"Can I go ahead and drop off my bag?"

"Ah, sure."

☆☆☆☆☆☆

"What a lively morning."

"Yo. Takagaki should have joined in as well."

"I don't feel energetic in the morning, so I didn’t."

As I sat idly in my seat waiting for homeroom to begin, a slightly drowsy-looking Takagaki came and sat in front of me. Apparently, Takagaki had entered the classroom arrived earlier, and was watching our shenanigans a while ago. I tried to joke with her, but she really did look like the person of who wouldn't be up to that so early, so I relented. I was sure I'd be in for a rude awakening if I continued.

"What are grinning at?"

"No, it's nothing."

I was grinning unconsciously. It was a bad habit of mine where I let it show on my face whenever I fantasized about something. Be normal, be normal.

As I straightened my expression, Takagaki stared at me with a serious face.

Ooh, it reminded me how overwhelming it felt back when we first met.

"Tell me more about yesterday."

"Huh? O-oh, sure. Did you find it interesting?"

"It's because I want to know what your results have been so far with that limited brain of yours."

"Eh..."

Wasn't her tongue too sharp this early in the morning, huh. We had only known each other for a few days. No, thinking back, we had been talking like this since we first met.

Should I take this a sign that we became such good friends that we could have this kind of exchanges, I wondered. I was sure this was the case. Because she really didn't get angry when I joked with her. I was willing to bet Kuramoto's soul on this.

"After school, then? We could talk around a lot if so."

"That's fine. Looking forward to it."

"Ah wait, Takagaki."

It seemed like that was all she wanted to talk about, but I stopped her when I remembered something. ‘What is it’, she said, as I fished through my bag and grabbed something. Then, I handed it to Takagaki.

"Tea? What for?"

"After school yesterday."

I gave her the black tea I bought from a vending machine on my way to school.

I turned my eyes towards the two people who were still talking to their friends, and when Takagaki followed my line of sight, she said, ‘Oh, so that's what it was,’ and returned back to her seat by the window.

Then, just as she put down the plastic bottle while propping up her cheek looking outside, the bell that signaled homeroom rang.

Even though it was morning, she looked like a tired office lady in twilight at the end of the day.

―― Coupled with the bottle of tea on the side, it made her even more so.

☆☆☆☆☆☆

"Good morning. Then whoever is on duty today, please take charge of the greetings."

"Understood, Sensei. Stand up, attention, bow."

Maekawa Tsuyoshi, our homeroom teacher, entered and started the homeroom.

He had a stocky build and had a fierce look to him, but he was quite friendly and often joked around with his students, so there was no need to be so stiff in front of him. Despite his appearance, he wasn't a PE teacher, but our Japanese teacher instead.

Although we had only interacted with him for a few days, he was someone who looked mature and cool for guys our age.

"There's nothing to talk about today. That's all."

"Stand u~p, atte~ntion, bo~w."

Too quick, it was too quick!

The homeroom lasted for less than 10 seconds, so I was wondering if this was okay, but this was the way this teacher handled it. I thought he was going to give out reminders to not get too carried away with the fact that high school just started, but after our first meeting, he immediately stopped doing that. In other words, he wasn't going to repeat what we already know over and over again.

The guy who was on day duty seemed to feel the same way as I did, and he led the greetings with slumped shoulders and a distracted look.

There was some time left before lass, but since first period was Japanese, after confirming that Maekawa-sensei was setting up at the teacher's table, I left my seat.

"Ah, sorry, Sensei. I forgot my textbook."

"You're too loose already, aren't you? You idiot. Let Miyano next to your seat show it to you."

With a clunk, I was hit on the head with a clipboard.

I heard some chuckles from my classmates who must have been watching over the situation.

Feeling a strong gaze on me all of a sudden, I turned around to see Ayane grinning at me. Speaking of which, I remembered that she just ticked me off earlier.

I looked around, wondering how I could get back at her ――

"Everyone. Look at Ayane's rare grinning face-guh?!"

"!!?"

"I don't what happened, but don't make a girl a spectacle. Stupid."

I was hit a bit harder than before. The scene I saw just before my head got swung on was the everyone's eyes instantly focused on one point because of what I said, and Ayane, realized what I intended to do, turned bright red as she plopped down on her desk.

Apparently, Maekawa-sensei was also a gentleman.