Chapter Text
Chiakis POV- Week 1 Day 1
Leaving my house and locking the door behind me early in the morning, patting down my blazer pockets to make sure I didn’t forget my Switch or a pencil for the first time in weeks. Not getting reminded of the date on a blackboard everyday made me slowly lose track of time. Of course, I made the mistake of not getting a calendar, but it was almost September so there was no point.
No one really encouraged me to go outside during those 3 weeks, apart from the few times I would go to the park. I squinted my eyes at the bright sun and shook my head as I walked through the busy streets of the city. Running would look silly, so I just walked slightly quicker than usual. It was weird, I didn’t see anyone from school around. Maybe I didn’t notice them because of the crowds of people walking down pavements.
As I got to the less crowded part of the city, I took my Switch out of my pocket and put my hood up, making sure there was no one in front of me that I would walk into. I’d basically remembered every brick on the path to school, so I didn’t need to look directly at the ground or in front of me to make sure I was going the right way.
I loaded up Galaga on the Switch, a game I’d been playing over the summer. It’s a bit repetitive to most people, but repetition makes things less confusing for me.
A few steps in, I gasped, and the Switch flew out of my hands, my whole body jolting in surprise, almost falling flat on the ground. “What the heck?”, I whispered to myself in frustration. I thought I memorised this whole path…
I turned and saw a brick out of place on the ground, right next to the broken pieces of what used to be my Switch. I must’ve looked pretty stupid, standing there with my hand covering my mouth in shock. A bit too dramatic? Maybe, but I spent all summer playing on it. Now all my progress was lost, and I had nothing to do after school. I mean, I guess I could've just talked to him normally after school instead of playing games but… I don’t know, I don’t like change. I equally don’t like paying attention to the teacher most of the time. It’s not boring or difficult, I would just much rather play games, that’s my talent after all. That’s why I got invited to the school.
Speaking of school, I found myself there again in front of the tall brick building, staring up at the clock on the middle tower.
8:00AM.
I still had about 30 minutes before school properly started. As I walked down towards the doors, I could hear the broken parts of my Switch jingling in my pockets. I don’t know why I bothered picking them up. I was hoping someone could fix it for me, though it seemed unsalvageable.
Before I knew it, I was walking up to the door of my classroom. I pushed it open weakly and stepped in, instinctively fidgeting with my hands to avoid eye contact with others. To my surprise, most of the seats were still empty. I could only make out four people there from the quick glance I took. Koizumi smiled at me warmly, raising her hand as if to wave from her seat.
“Hey Nanami, I assume we’re a bit early since I’ve not seen many people around, unless you’ve seen anyone.”
I shook my head as if to suggest I hadn’t seen anyone either, but honestly I wouldn’t know, I hadn’t looked up since the minute I entered the building.
“You act like such an antisocial loser, speak up!”
I raised my head, instantly recognising that squeaky voice coming from Koizumi’s desk. Clearly Saionji hadn’t changed. I try to avoid her as much as I can, but she seems to have a problem with everyone, even if they don’t talk to her.
I ignored it, but I saw Koizumi look at me with an apologetic expression on her face, like she was taking accountability for what Saionji said.
I quickly shuffled to my seat and threw my bag on the ground next to my desk, putting my feet up on the chair. I sighed and leaned my head against my knees, closing my eyes. I didn’t want to fall asleep, despite how tired I was already, I just wanted to imagine that everything would be okay throughout the whole school year, or at the very least, one full day.
As I started imagining random scenarios, I found myself wishing I could be in the Reserve Course or a public school again. I know it sounds ungrateful as many people would kill to be in my position, but it was so much more organised. A timetable with clearly labelled subjects and designated times for breaks, ordinary blank-slate students and a variety of things to learn everyday. It was repetitive, sure, but it made sense.
If you couldn’t tell, I like routine. Ignoring some of the students and the mostly unprofessional teachers, it was far better than the random, unpredictable days at my current school. The only good thing here is the fact that I can play games mostly anytime I want, with the others in my class joining me sometimes.
I felt someone tap my shoulder, and noise started to fade back in as I opened my eyes and slowly lifted my head off my raised knees. Was I back at home, already waking up for the next day?
My eyes widened. Everyone was staring at me. I was in a classroom, my classroom. I looked past the unfamiliar person standing in front of me to look at the clock. It had already been half an hour since I walked into the classroom, but I didn’t remember anything that happened.
A young woman with long auburn hair smiled at me, but I could tell from the look in her eyes that she was worried.
“Are you alright?”, she asked, concern evident in her tone.
I wasn’t sure of what to say, I must’ve accidentally fallen asleep. I sat frozen with the same shocked expression on my face for what seemed like a few minutes.
“Sorry, who are you?”, I stuttered, not realising how rude that must’ve sounded. Luckily, she didn’t take any clear offence and laughed it off.
“I’m your new teacher, Ms Yukizome!”
Her voice was bright and cheery, a complete contrast to my previous teacher. Of course, I completely forgot about the whole ‘new teacher’ thing. I’d gotten so used to my last teacher and her mundane, un-enthusiastic attitude that all her words started to blend together near the end of term, though that might just be my bad hearing. Naturally I would forget everything she told us, including the fact that we were getting someone new.
Before I could respond, Ms Yukizome took out a piece of paper with all our names and information on it.
“You must be Chiaki Nanami, right? I know you like video games, we’ve got something in common!”
I appreciated the fact that she took time to fully acknowledge me and what I like, but to be honest, I was getting sick of the over the top act. I find people like that hard to keep up with, therefore making me seem stupid since I can’t fully process what they're saying in a matter of seconds. Maybe I was just being too negative, things could’ve been worse.
She turned and walked back to the front of the classroom, stepping up onto the podium, beginning another introductory speech.
Instead of listening, I looked around the classroom, taking in all the people around me. I’d known them for a year already and, unsurprisingly, nothing had changed. Everyone was still pretty much the same.
After a few minutes, Ms Yukizome was done speaking. I only knew this because almost everyone had stood up and left.
For the rest of the day, we get encouraged to practice or better our talents wherever we find most suitable. For example, Koizumi’s speciality is photography, so she brings her camera around the school and takes pictures.
I spend most of my time in the computer lab or in whichever room has a game console in it. My talent isn’t anything great. I’ve always been good at video games, later winning different types of awards for all types of games, specifically rhythm games. Keeping up with them and staying on beat with the music, even on challenging difficulties, was always easy for me. Surprisingly, my reflexes aren’t anything special outside of games. I can’t fight or predict people’s actions a lot of the time.
Despite rhythm games having a lot to do with music, I can’t play instruments well or sing, that’s Mioda’s strong point.
She played in a famous pop group for years, but she decided to start independently experimenting with her music. She’s going for heavier, louder sounds now. Saionji seemed to enjoy it, which took everyone by surprise. Upon first glance, she doesn’t seem like the type of person to indulge in things with darker themes, despite the way she talks to other people.
I can’t really blame her, she had a strict upbringing and all, with her being an extremely popular traditional dancer. Maybe this was just her way of rebelling against the industry. Nevertheless, I never got into Mioda’s new music. I preferred her old stuff, it was much calmer and easier to listen to.
I looked around the classroom one more time, before standing up to head to the computer lab. However, as I was walking out of the classroom, I heard someone call out my name. My smile faded as I turned around. As rude as I seemed, I just wanted to be left alone for a bit.
Komaeda stood up and slowly walked towards me.
“Are you going to the computer lab, Nanami?”, he asked.
I stayed silent, looking around. To be honest, I was avoiding him more than the question. If, say, Koizumi or Mioda asked me the same question, I would happily answer, and maybe even invite them to join me. This doesn’t apply to him.
I’m not a close-minded or judgemental person, he’s just generally off-putting. His weird comments make it seem like he’s never interacted with real people before, almost like everyone else is above him. I’m fine with receiving compliments, but not when they make me seem like some sort of otherworldly being. What I’m trying to say is, he makes me uncomfortable, and I knew he wanted to come play video games with me. Either way, I couldn’t tell him that, so I took a deep breath and accepted it.
I managed to look him in the eyes after a few seconds of awkward silence.
“Uh… I am, do you want to—”
“Sure, I’ll come with you.” He replied quickly before I could finish speaking.
I nodded calmly, despite being quite surprised. He has this weird ability to be able to predict what I’m saying before I’m done speaking. Maybe I’m just… predictable. It still freaks me out everytime though.
We walked downstairs, passing by classrooms with little to no people. I tried to walk slightly quicker than him without being too obvious, but I stopped once I realised he was barely able to breathe.
“Sorry, was I walking too fast?” I mumbled, feeling slightly guilty.
“I’m fine, I know you probably don’t want to walk with me anyways.”
I didn’t really know how to respond, so I stupidly laughed, as if what he was saying was completely untrue. He was right, I didn’t want to walk with him, but I didn’t realise it was that obvious.
You’d think I would apologise again, but I just started walking to the computer lab in silence, only this time I walked slower.
It seemed like hours had passed before we finally got to the door of the lab, as the school is so unnecessarily big. I pushed open the door and sat down, switching on the PS3. Unfortunately, my bad sleep schedule must've caught up to me as I felt my head dropping and my eyes slowly closing, my vision getting blurry.
I felt the usual light tap on my shoulder after a minute or so, causing me to abruptly shake my head in surprise and look up.
"Are you okay?", he asked, staring at me with wide eyes.
Quietly coming back to my senses, I managed to answer without messing up my words.
"Uhm, yeah… Wanna play Project Diva?"
To my luck, he smiled and nodded. I assumed he knew what the game was, most people do.
However, I didn't know if he was any good at it. It frustrates me watching people mess up at such an easy game. Although, that does sound a bit inconsiderate. After all, I can see how it could be a hard game for someone with little to no experience. I'll never say anything mean though. To be honest, if I get bored quickly, I'll just sleep to pass time.
I reminded myself that only one person could play the game at a time, trying to decide who should start.
"Do you want to play first? You know, cause it's a singleplayer game?"
As annoying as it was letting other people have a go before me, I wanted to make him feel more included. My teachers used to tell me to treat others how I would want to be treated, and I've never really thought about it until recently, so I've tried to take it into account.
Despite my now useless efforts, I sighed in relief upon hearing his answer.
"No, that's fine. You're the best gamer anyways, right? I should be using you as an example."
With that, I started the game. Choosing a song was easy. Coincidentally, it was one of the hardest. 'The Intense Voice of Hatsune Miku' on Hard difficulty. I would've gone on Expert difficulty, but I didn't want to seem like a show-off. Plus, I would've messed up towards the end of the song, completely embarrassing myself in front of my classmate.
I cleared the song, pressing almost every note accurately. My timing was only slightly off at some parts because I hadn't played Project Diva in a while. I only realised how dizzy I felt after finishing the song.
Everytime I get really focused on a game, I hold my breath without noticing. It's a habit that I've tried to get rid of but it comes back no matter how hard I try. Part of the reason for it is not being able to focus on anything else while I'm playing a game, including breathing. Despite all of that, I prefer to play games with people around me. In my case, pressure helps me.
I'm not normally one to overthink about my appearance or anything like that, but my reputation as the best 'High-School Level Gamer' is something that I value greatly, even if it's a stupid title. Pressure encourages me to do better in order to uphold my reputation.
With that, I tried passing the controller to him, but he didn't take it. I cleared my throat and smiled meekly. "It's your turn now—"
"You're like a shining oracle of hope for us, Chiaki. Really, you should go again. I don't deserve to play against someone like you."
I frowned without realising it. He used my first name. Students don't use first names in my school, unless they're really close to each other. We're not. I'm sure he didn't mean it in a weird way, but… it was weird, even for him. I didn't have a response for a while, I just stared at him. He was looking at me too, but in awe. I only did it because I was concerned for him.
"Are you.. feeling okay? Do you need a nurse or something?"
That was the best I could come up with. There's no way I could accept whatever he said, so the only explanation for his behaviour was some illness. That's what I thought, at the time.
It was no use though. He laughed like I was being purposefully funny, finally stopping once he couldn't breathe, again.
"You're so caring, Chiaki. I wouldn't expect anyone to actually be worried about someone like me."
He paused, his expression suddenly getting a bit more serious.
"My head actually is hurting a lot right now, I can't really see out of this eye."
He pointed to his left eye weakly. I was right, of course there was something wrong with him. I just hoped I wouldn't be the one getting in trouble for not getting help sooner. The only problem now was the fact that I didn't know where the nurses office was, or if we even had one. I stood up with a different plan in mind.
"Just stay here, I'll go get someone."
He nodded and I ran out of the computer lab, heading to the biology lab. Unfortunately, it was all the way up on the 5th floor, and I was on the first. The school is quite old, so the only way of getting around is stairs and ladders meaning I had no quick easy way of getting to the 5th floor.
Honestly, I thought about just leaving him there until he inevitably died, but that kind of goes against my morals even if I strongly dislike him, so I kept walking.
I sprinted down the halls, before running into Tsumiki, the exact person I was looking for.
She squealed in surprise and fell backwards, while I stood across from her trying to apologise. I knew she would assume that I hated her if I didn't apologise, she's just that type of person. She takes everything personally and tries to take accountability for things that weren't her fault in the first place. She's not the type of person that'd come to mind when thinking of a nurse.
I helped her up and tried to explain the situation without making her panic more.
"I'm so sorry to be bothering you Tsumiki, but… Komaeda isn't feeling well and I have no idea if we have a nurses office."
She covered her mouth in surprise, her hands shaking and her eyes widening.
"Oh gosh, is he— is he okay? Where is he?"
I barely made out a word she said from her nervous mumbling, but I realised what she was asking soon enough.
"He's in the computer lab… I think."
I thought my unsure response would make her more frightened, but she ran to the computer lab instantly without another word. I didn't follow her, instead I made my way past the computer lab and headed outside to the gardens because why would I willingly go with her?
The sun instantly hit me as soon as I stepped out of the door. I noticed the contrast between being inside and outside. It's so much colder in the school, which I prefer. It's part of why I hate going outside in the Summer. I guess I just wanted a change from the dreary brick walls and concrete floors.
Following the stone path outside, I watched as people practiced their talents and talked amongst themselves on benches.
I noticed Koizumi taking pictures of daisies in the flower beds, kneeling down on the grass and slowly adjusting the settings on her camera, Saionji sitting next to her quietly. It was surprisingly peaceful.
My eyes spotted an empty bench as I walked towards a small, silent area surrounded by trees. Normally it would be full of people, specifically the students in the 76th class. They're a year older than us as I'm in the 77th class, so I usually stay clear of that area, but I was surprised to see it completely deserted.
I sat down, breathing in the warm, heavy air. The quiet noise of people talking in the distance and birds in the thick trees around me. I closed my eyes, since I had nothing better to do. The peace quickly disappeared though.
Quiet footsteps ran up to where I was sitting, a piercing loud voice right in front of me. My eyes opened.
A girl in the year above me with short pink hair and a face so still and perfect, like a porcelain doll. She held a tray with small, multi-coloured macarons and batted her eyelashes. Her hand shot up and waved in my face, clearly trying to grab my attention.
When she realised I was aware of her, she smiled and shoved the tray into my face.
"Hello! Are you one of the younger years? Here, have a macaron!"
She spoke with a sickly high-pitched voice, making her come off like she was mocking me. I didn't have any proof of her having bad intentions, but something told me she wasn't being fully genuine.
My face forced a smile as I came up with a response. "No thanks, I'll pass. I don't really like macarons—"
She forced the tray in my face even closer, forcing me to back up a bit.
"Really, I insist! You know they're good when they're made by me, the best high-school level confectioner."
Truthfully I was getting fed up with her, so I hesitantly grabbed a green macaron off the tray to get her to leave. Her eyes glared at me as I did.
"Come on, try it!"
Her face got slightly closer to mine as I looked at the pastry. I don't like sweet things, so I planned on just throwing it away when she left, but I had no choice now.
I took a bite of it, the flavour of pistachio with a subtle apple and cinnamon becoming instantly noticeable. It was good, but I felt ill after one bite.
"Well? Do you like it?" She asked, staring at me.
"Uhm... yeah, it's really good." Hoping she wouldn't realise I was lying, she giggled and lifted the tray out of my face.
"See? I knew you would love it! You younger years are so stubborn sometimes…" I wasn't sure if she meant for me to hear that last part, but I nodded and smiled anyway. To my luck, she left instantly after that, giving me a chance to throw the rest of the pastry away as soon as she was out of sight.
Time passed slower than I wanted it to when I was outside. It was the fact that I didn't have my Switch anymore. Well, I did, just in broken up parts. Though that sparked an idea in my head. I got up, determined to somehow fix my Switch. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Sonia standing near the flower beds. She smiled as I walked up to her.
"Hello Nanami, the weather is so nice here, isn't it? At least compared to my drab old kingdom back at home."
I never really understood her. The weather is nice here, but comparing it to a kingdom? Maybe she just wasn't used to being an average student yet, as she's royalty. Her whole background is kind of confusing to be honest. A princess from a small European kingdom who moved to Japan as an exchange student, only to not exactly have a talent good enough to be in this school. Her talent is the best high-school level princess. No one knows what that fully means, but we've pretty much accepted her as a student now.
"Yeah, uh… Have you seen Soda anywhere?" I asked awkwardly. The reason I asked her specifically was because he always tells Sonia where he's going. He's been weirdly obsessed with her since she moved here.
"Yes I do, follow me!" Hesitantly, I followed her as she walked quickly around the school all the way to the garage.
Along the way, she tried to make some small-talk which was made evident to be a struggle for her. "So, Nanami, ever wondered what would happen if someone planted a bomb in the school? The school is so big, we would never even know!" That quickly got my attention. She made the topic sound so casual, her voice light and elegant as if she was simply talking about the weather.
"Huh?" I was so taken off guard, I couldn't come up with a response quick enough.
"I recently read about terrorism, it's so terrible how these things can happen to innocent people." She sighed deeply. I could tell she was just trying to fit in with us students, so I didn't comment on it.
"Yeah, I think it's… interesting. I guess you're right, something like that could happen to us. I don't think you should worry about it though, it doesn't happen often." Truly, I did want to comfort her a bit, but I don't do research on terrorism so I wouldn't know how common it is. She turned to me and shook her head. "Oh, no, I'm not worried! I was just thinking about it last night, that's all." As strange as the conversation was, I shrugged it off and nodded.
We reached the garage after a bit of silence. The silence wasn't awkward though, her presence was comforting and elegant compared to most other people. Sonia peered in and looked around the dusty room.
"Hello? Is anyone here?" She shouted over the loud mechanical drilling. As she said that, the noise suddenly turned off and Soda walked out from behind a car. He ran up to Sonia and grinned. "Hey Miss Sonia," he paused and turned to look at me, "and you too, Nanami." Sonia quickly walked off, presumably back to the gardens.
"Is Miss Sonia not staying?", he asked, evidently disappointed.
"...No, she's not. I have a favour to ask, but I don't know if it's possible." He raised his eyebrows. "What is it?"
I carefully pulled out the broken pieces of my Switch out of my pocket, making sure not to rip any loose cables. He looked at them in confusion.
"...What am I supposed to do with this? You want me to take them to the scrapyard or something?"
I rolled my eyes at his stupid suggestion. "My Switch fell out of my hands and broke. I was thinking, since you're the mechanical person of this school or whatever, you could maybe… fix it?" I nervously waited for a response as he looked at the pieces in my hand.
He looked back up at me. "First of all, I'm not a 'mechanical person' ,I'm a mechanic. And, yeah, I could try to fix it, but…" He paused. I was getting annoyed at the unnecessary dialogue.
"But what?"
Without warning, he grabbed the pieces from the palm of my hand. "You might as well buy a new one. It'll take me a few days, and there's no guarantee it'll work like it used to."
In the back of my mind, I knew this kind of response was the most realistic, but I would rather get it repaired for free than have to spend more money on a new one. I sighed dejectedly. "Just try and fix it. If you can't, then I'll get a new one."
With that, we agreed to him fixing it and I thanked him. I figured I could walk back to the front of the school and get in from there, rather than having to walk all the way to the back.
I might as well go back to the computer lab surely, Tsumiki and Komaeda would be gone by now.
I didn't have anything better to do anyways, and my legs were getting tired of walking around. So that's what I did. As I sat back down on the floor in front of the screen in the computer lab, Owari burst in through the door aggressively. I flinched as she started shouting at me, her rough voice vibrating in my head.
"Nanami! Ms Yukizome said that we're to gather in the registry classroom!" I frowned in confusion, then I realised why she was telling me.
My head turned to the clock on the wall behind me. 11:50AM. We normally eat in the classroom at 12 in the afternoon, but a bell rings for us to go.
"Why are you telling me? Is the bell not working today?, I asked curiously.
She laughed loudly. "Nah, I just wanted a head start." As soon as she said it, she was gone, presumably to notify the others in my class. I was confused as to what she meant by that, but I assumed she was just excited to eat. So as soon as I sat down, I got back up, heading to the 3rd floor.
Entering the classroom, I noticed that about half of the class was there. The chairs and tables were pushed backwards so we could sit on the floor in a circle. I sat down in between Koizumi and Ms Yukizome. Everyone else soon entered and sat down in their normal place, seemingly annoyed at Owari.
Ms Yukizome clapped her hands together to get everyone's attention. "Alright, I'll do the register now."
As she called our names out, she stopped and looked around, "Is Komaeda not here?"
Tsumiki raised her hand and spoke quietly, "He went home, he wasn't feeling well."
A squeaky voice next to Koizumi started shouting across the circle. "Hey, Tsumiki! Maybe you could speak up so we can actually hear you, or is that too much to ask? Every time you speak, it feels like I'm losing my ability to understand languages."
Ms Yukizome looked at Saionji and cleared her throat. "Saionji, that is no way to speak to your classmate! Next time it happens, I'm writing a letter home, understand?" Saionji rolled her eyes and dug her nails into Koizumi's arm in frustration.
Ms Yukizome then looked at the register and back at Tsumiki, "Thank you for telling me, Tsumiki."
As always, Hanamura handed out whatever food he made, and all of us ate quickly while talking about random things. Although I enjoy listening to people's conversations sometimes, I was the first to leave, finally heading to the computer lab by myself.
The rest of the day dragged on as I played video games, waiting for the clock to hit 4PM. People would come in every so often, playing one or two games with me then leaving. Finally, I turned one last time that day to look at the clock. 4PM.
The bell pierced my ears and rang through the whole school. I picked up my bag and ran out of the school, quicker than most people, so I could get to the park.
I found myself at the large stone fountain, surrounded by tall grass hedges and 8 perfectly almond shaped trees. The wooden bench there was the same, the sound of the flowing water enveloping me as I sat down, placing my bag next to my feet. Now I just had to wait until 4:30. So that's what I did. I closed my eyes until I heard the slow footsteps I was familiar with, although they arrived later than normal. Opening my eyes, I tried to remember what had happened at school that day.
"How was school?" I asked him first. I knew how negatively he felt about being in the Reserve Course, but I figured I'd ask anyway.
"Oh, it was boring. There is something that happened though, I guess you might wanna know."
I looked over at him, trying to gesture with my eyes for him to explain what it was.
"This girl joined my class today. Natsumi Kuzuryu. I thought you might know her."
My eyes widened. I recognised her last name. "Does she have a brother?", I asked.
He nodded. That confirmed my suspicion. Her brother was in my class. It wasn't that big of a deal, I just knew they were both involved in some big crime organisation.
"I'd avoid her if I was you." My voice must've seemed rather threatening, but I just didn't want her to hurt him.
"Yeah, well, she came up to me in class today and started talking about how she was gonna leave the Reserve Course and go into your school to be with her brother or whatever… Then she started threatening this other girl in my class, Sato–"
I also recognised that name. "Sato? Like, Koizumi's photography club friend?"
He nodded again. Something told me that things were going to get worse between the two schools somehow.
"Natsumi talked to me after school, which is why I was here slightly later. I wasn't really paying attention to her, she was just rambling about pointless stuff." For some reason, I found myself getting jealous as he talked. It frustrated me. From the way he spoke, it sounded like she was trying to become friends with him or something. I shrugged it off though, it was stupid to get mad about something insignificant like that.
"Did anything happen at your school, Chiaki?" I noticed the fact that he used my first name, almost instinctively. I knew we weren't in school, but he normally calls me by my last name. He must've noticed my confusion though, as he quickly corrected himself. "Uhm… I meant to say Nanami. Sorry." I didn't mind him using my first name. We're close friends, and we have been for a few years, but I tried my best to ignore it, like I do with most things.
"Right. Well, I got a new teacher and she's alright, I guess. Komaeda was acting weirder than normal. Turns out he's sick, so he went home. I pretty much just played video games all day though."
As I was speaking to him, I started to realise how off he looked. Like something had happened since the last time I'd seen him. I couldn't really figure out what it was, which frustrated me. Maybe it was the fact that I couldn't tell how he was feeling at all. The few times I looked at his eyes, they looked completely vacant of any emotion, despite him smiling. I told myself to not make assumptions, thinking that maybe I was just overthinking it.
"Oh, okay," he said, "I guess there's not much I can ask, considering you don't really have classes, right?" His response was shorter and much more blunt than usual, his tone slightly aggressive. Either way, he wasn't wrong, it just seemed like he was envious or something. It scared me, but the feeling of guilt overshadowed that. Maybe I shouldn't have brought up school to begin with.
With my head down, I mumbled a response. "Yeah, you're right…" I had this overwhelming urge to apologise for bringing school up, causing me to pause in the middle of my sentence. I must've not realised that I had gone completely silent and that I was just staring at the ground beneath me, but he noticed.
"Were you going to say something?"
That woke me up. I looked up at him and laughed awkwardly, shaking my head.
"No, it's nothing."
I desperately tried to think of something to talk about, going back and forth between the sparse options in my head. Without my Switch, it was near impossible to actually interact with each other. I know it's a bit stupid, but we became friends over our mutual interest in video games. It's what's kept us together. Now with that out of the question, I realised why we resorted to distracting ourselves with it.
"Do you wanna play something?" He asked. I expected him to say that, as I completely forgot to mention what had happened to my Switch. I gasped quietly to myself and looked at him apologetically, taking a deep breath before talking.
"Right… I forgot to tell you, I accidentally broke my Switch on the way to school. Soda says it'll take at least a few days to fix." He was clearly disappointed by my response, as much as I was disappointed in myself for being so clumsy.
"Why don't you come to my house? I have a PS2 at home." I suggested. I thought it was a good idea, taking into account he'd never been in my house, and vice-versa. I was sure he would agree, as I didn't see a reason not to. Of course, my judgement was incorrect.
"Maybe- maybe some other time, I have schoolwork and stuff…" He stuttered, getting more quiet at the end of his sentence. Obviously I didn't want to make him feel pressured to go home with me, but something was clearly wrong. Teachers usually don't assign schoolwork on the first day, but maybe it was different in the Reserve Course.
"I should probably go home now." He said abruptly, standing up. I tried to accept the possibility that maybe he actually did just have work to do, and that I was overthinking it. I stood up and smiled, picking up my bag, though I knew I was forcing it.
"Yeah, me too."
I turned to walk away from the fountain before stopping and turning around to look at him one last time that day.
"I'll see you tomorrow. Bye Hinata."