Fragmentary Chapter /3: School
“Hah.”
During the morning and inside the classroom.
Takamiya Shinji let out a couple of sighs as he buried his face in his desk The mysterious disaster that gouged out the entire space— about two weeks had passed since the spacequake had struck the town. Since the high school Shinji and the others attended miraculously avoided damage, classes had resumed a few days ago.
In the event of a large scale disaster, schools usually became the site of refugee for victims. However, the residents of the previous disaster had disappeared alongside the city. As a result, there was a surprising few number of evacuated people compared to the magnitudes of the disaster.
Nevertheless, the scenery of the classroom was not the same as before the disaster had struck. There were one or two desks decorated with flower offerings that had no effect. Although they were free from the disaster, some students were still bedridden due to the mental shock. In fact, some students had moved to other prefectures due to the fear of the reoccurrence of spacequakes here.
Shinji’s sigh was not completely unrelated to this.
He felt some sadness while remembering the normal conversations of students who had suddenly disappeared. And of course, concerns over what was going to become of his own surroundings when going forward.
However, human adaptability was still incomparable. Shinji and the other classmates left behind slowly grew accustomed to the new circumstances.
In the beginning, many cried for the deaths of their friends, the repetition of each passing school days allowed for their smiles to gradually return.
The inexplicable, undefinable, and uncertainty feelings of those left behind. In any case, in order to move on from such conditions, the young boys and girls had to continue picking up the scattered pieces every day.
“……Haah.”
However, in that environment, even if sighing would appear somewhat imprudent, there was another meaning behind Shinji’s groans.
“That’s quite the number of sighs, Takamiya-kun.”
“……Hmm?”
As Shinji lost track of how many sighs he just gave out, an unexpected voice was heard suddenly.
As he looked for the source of the voice, he saw that there was young boy with glasses and a gentle appearance. Shinji briefly let out an “ah” as he raised his head.
“Good morning, Itsuka.”
“Yeah, good morning.”
Shinji’s friend, Tatsuo Itsuka replied back with a smile as he pulled his head over.
“Then, what’s wrong? Are you worried about something?”
“Uh…ah, well, kinda.”
Shinji gave of a wry smile as he gave off his words in a vague tone.
“Hmmm……”
Then, after watching his expression for a moment, Tatsuo muttered to himself.
“……Could it be a girl that you like?”
“—Pfff.”
Hearing what was said, Shinji started to cough involuntarily. In turn, his surprised classmates gazed curiously at him.
“Y-you……why did you have to suddenly say something so weird.”
“Eh, is that right? It seems my intuition is quite accurate.”
“…………”
Faced with Tatsuo’s accusation, Shinji’s face flushed red as he averted his eyes.
……Shamefully, that was indeed the case. Mio’s face had been flickering in his mind at all times since inviting her out on a date yesterday, causing everything else to wander in his thoughts aimlessly.
“Hihihi—”
“What are you talking about.”
“We also want to join in!”
Three of their female classmates seemed to have overheard their conversation with interest as they came over. They were three close friends in Shinji’s class, Ako, Mako, and Miko.
“W-what are you guys, no it’s nothing special.”
“Don’t say that. Tell us, and we’ll listen to you, master~.”
“I never expected spring to come for harmless Takamiya-kun—”
“Now then, what kind of person is this girl? Let’s talk about it.”
“Y-you guys……”
At that moment.
“—Shin.”
As Shinji was surrounded by the three of them, he suddenly heard a familiar voice coming from the entrance of the classroom.
“Huh—”
While gazing there, Shinji’s eyes stared blankly.
No, it wasn’t just Shinji. All the students looked on at that young girl had a dumbfounded stare.
But that was to be expected. After all, a beautiful young girl was standing there.
“M-Mio……?”
As Shinji’s expression was marked by astonishment, he cried out the girl’s name.
Then, Mio responded back with a smile. She either didn’t notice or did not care about being the center of attention, as she walked boldly towards Shinji at a brisk pace.
“W-why are you here……”
“Here, you left this behind.”
As Shinji asked with a bead of swear dripping down his neck, Mio took out a lunch box from her bag and placed it at the table.
“Ah……”
Looking at that, he searched inside his own bag. ……When he went out today, his thoughts were already focused so much on Mio that he had absent-mindedly forgotten to put his lunch in his bag.
“Thank you……that’s of great help.”
“Hehe…helpful to Shin.”
Mio let out a cheerful giggle before waving back to him.
“Then, I’m heading back.”
“A-ah.”
As Shinji struggled to give a reply, Mio gave a slight nod while walking back.
However, at that time, as if remembering something, she turned around before asking.
“—I’m looking forward to the date next time. Shin, are you looking forward to it as well?”
Mio replied back with a lovely smile.
“……!”
Because it was too adorable, Shinji nearly choked on his own breath.
“Ah, um……I know.”
“Um, good-bye, Shin.”
As Shidou was struggling to find the words to speak, Mio waved again before leaving.
“…………”
The classroom fell into a momentary silence.
“……Uh.”
As if anticipating the upcoming storm that would break out in a few seconds, Shinji wanted to sneak out before anyone could speak.
But—it was too late. Just as he was halfway about to leave, someone suddenly grabbed his neck and forced him to sit down.
“Hey, who was that beautiful girl just now, Takamiya-kun!?”
“Perhaps it’s the rumored girlfriend?”
“I haven’t heard of that!”
“Ah, how beautiful, Takamiya-kun.”
……And etc.
Until homeroom began, Shinji was tightly surrounded by all of his classmates.
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