The Daily Life
That day, I arrived at school at 8:30 a.m. as always. I was feeling bored with my usual, unchanging every day.
But there was one thing that was different.
That was, there were fewer people than usual. It is not because that today is a holiday, nor has the influenza pandemic occurred and many students are taking a day off.
It is only that other than we Grade 12 and little Grade 7, everybody else is out for a field trip. Grades 8 and 9 went to Izu, and Grades 10 and 11 went to Hiroshima. So it is natural that there are fewer students here at school. Thus, a quieter and more comfortable school life than usual was about to begin.
Because today is Friday and also because the number of students and teachers is less than half, classes were not held seriously, and lunchtime came before one knew it.
The cafeteria, usually crowded with junior high school students bumping into each other, was now completely different, creating a quiet atmosphere as if the president was visiting the cafeteria of a big enterprise.
The only sound you can hear is the rain outside the window, falling on the roof and windows of this shabby school building. It seemed like the rain made the entire atmosphere gloomier than usual.
In such a calm space, whether they could not read the room or intentionally did not, four out-of-place students were sitting at a table closest to the window.
"Hey, Shūhei. Right here!"
The one who calls me with a loud voice and waves his hand to me is the man who does not know how to read room No.1, Shōta Sano.
At the same time as he spoke, all the students in the cafeteria, who had been quietly eating their meals, stopped and turned to me. A sharp look of annoyance was about to pierce my heart.
I bowed my head for the time being and walked reluctantly to the table of those who disturb this atmosphere.
"Don’t yell, you’re embarrassing me,"
I whispered.
"Come on, nobody cares."
"He is right. After all, this is a public space. We all need to get along with each other."
Keisuke Fujisawa, who sits next to me, tapped me on the shoulder while drinking a glass of ginger ale.
"Even if that is the case, you have to at least show some respect."
"Hey, Shūhei's here, so stop your studies now, Risa."
Risa Ōta, who is the second smartest person in this group after Kazuhiro Noda, is sitting by the window, staring at the laptop in front of her.
Kazuhiro was sitting next to Risa with his arms crossed, just quietly looking out the window.
Kazuhiro is the smartest student in our grade and is looked up to by teachers throughout the school.
By the way, I don’t mean to brag, but I think I’m pretty smart in my class. Although I’m not as good as all-rounded Kazuhiro, who is capable of both literary and military arts, or the hard-worker Risa, I scored in the 80s on the last test. So at least I think, or would like to hope, that I am clearly better than Shōta who cannot respect others, or Keisuke, who I cannot understand what he is saying most of the time.
"Seriously, you guys need to be quiet for a while."
I glared at the stupid two.
"Oh, your face is as scary as usual. Hey Keisuke, what do you think will happen if I make him more angry?"
"Maybe he'll look as scary as a ghost."
Keisuke replied in a good mood.
"Ha-ha! You are an idiot. At times like this, you have to say he would be as scary as Risa's face."
"Hey, what did you say?"
Risa, who had been pressing the keyboard earlier, glared at Keisuke and Shōta with a devilish expression.
"I'm very sorry to have bothered you!"
Keisuke and Shōta kept their mouths shut just like the balloons got deflated.
"Oh, so sorry for keeping you guys waiting. I got a make-up lesson from the teacher again."
Just as Risa's blackmail brought us back to a slightly more peaceful cafeteria, another airhead arrived.
"Oh. Finally, here is our madonna, Minami."
Her arrival brought Shōta back to life at once.
The last one, Minami Okazaki, unlike Keisuke and Shōta, studies hard but has the fatal problem of not being able to understand the content of lessons at all. Therefore, she always goes to the teacher at the end of the class and asks tons of questions, which should be the most problematic child for a busy teacher. I’m sure that she is a good girl, because she takes notes carefully every time, and she's cheerful with everyone.
I would have stayed with her and taught desperately until she understood, but unfortunately, we are in different classes. Kazuhiro, the smartest guy, is the one who is in the same classroom as Minami.
Once before, Kazuhiro tried his best to teach in an easy-to-understand way, but Minami said it sounded like he was chanting like a Buddhist prayer.
Anyway, these five people are my friends with whom I always spend time together. Looking back, this was the happiest time for me.
But I don't think even that genius Kazuhiro could have known that this relationship would lead to that hell at this moment.
