Did You Enjoy Yourself Yesterday?

The sky was bright and fully cleared. The sun, having abandoned its tender spring facade, shone powerfully from the morning, as if rehearsing early for the coming season.

The inside of the school bustled with activity, seemingly untroubled by any May blues.

However, the moment Takumi entered Class 1-3, the room was enveloped in silence.

“…”

Yet that lasted only a moment, and conversations resumed almost immediately.

Takumi glanced around the room, and after confirming that no one was looking his way, he walked toward his desk.

Although he had gotten completely used to commuting by train, he still couldn’t seem to get used to this reaction.

Takumi clearly stood out. It seemed he was perceived as a delinquent… or if not quite that, a person with poor conduct.

Looking at his own reflection in the window glass, he knitted his brows.

He had firmly inherited the lighter pigmentation of his mother, leaving him with naturally dull dark-brown hair. Combined with his naturally harsh-looking eyes, however, to outsiders his appearance looked like someone trying to act tough by bleaching their hair. Given that Mitsuru Academy was a preparatory school, he likely seemed like quite a rare sight.

Furthermore, his greeting on the first day of school hadn’t helped either.

He hadn’t slept well the night before due to nervousness, emitting a grumpy aura from sleep deprivation. Coupled with his innate awkwardness with words, his greeting of just “Ah… ’sup” must have sounded like he was trying to intimidate those around him. Along with his appearance, he ended up being kept at a distance.

If he had the communication skills to actively approach those around him, turn his image around with witty banter, and make friends, he wouldn’t have spent his elementary and middle school years in isolation.

In an effort to appeal to others as a harmless, serious character, he had made a point of spreading out his textbooks to preview the lessons during break times.

However, after hearing it from Kotori, it turned out those around him viewed him as someone who didn’t do his homework at home and was always frantically finishing it at the last minute at school. It had the completely opposite effect.

Since then, instead of previewing lessons, he made a point of reading paperbacks or visiting the library, though the effectiveness of that remained unclear for now.

As Takumi let out an internal sigh at himself, he heard the sound of the door sliding open.

Turning his eyes toward it, it seemed Kotori had arrived at school.

“Ah, Nabatch, mornin’~”

“Yesterday’s new item at Futaba, wasn’t it super strawberry!?”

“I think it might’ve been better with even more strawberry flavor without the milk~. How about you, Kotori-chan?”

“Nn, it was alright…”

Unlike Takumi, who was barreling down the path of a loner, Kotori was surrounded by girls the moment she arrived.

Even as questions about yesterday’s Futaba trip were thrown at her in rapid succession, she answered nonchalantly with an aloof expression, giving short responses like “Is that so?”, “Could be,” and “It was fine.”

Responses that could at first glance be taken as grumpy were accepted without much concern by the girls, who rationalized, “Nabatch just keeps up with trendy stuff for the sake of it,” and “She’s more about finding things she can really sink into.” She was accepted as someone who didn’t blindly chase whatever was trendy.

Other classmates listening in also reacted favorably, whispering things like, “Nabata-san really seems to have a strong sense of self,” and “I like how she doesn’t get swept along.” It was received as expected of a solitary ice princess.

Knowing Kotori, however, even though she had gone to Futaba yesterday and ordered the new item, she undoubtedly hadn’t even been able to taste it properly due to nervousness. In fact, to Takumi’s eyes, it was clear that her eyes darted nervously every time the subject of Futaba was brought up.

At that moment, his eyes happened to meet Kotori’s. Realizing Takumi was looking at her, Kotori blinked, then awkwardly turned her face away.

The girls around her, without the slightest inkling that they were leaving Kotori behind, continued talking and getting excited.

To an outsider, Kotori was simply nodding along with a cool demeanor.

Even so, seeing her inside everyone’s circle—unlike back in middle school—Takumi narrowed his eyes as if looking at something dazzling.