After about an hour, it was just the two of us at the quiet station, and it seemed like no one would come no matter how long we waited. According to barely legible information on the signs, the station appears to be on the verge of being abandoned.

Then, after about ten minutes, the last train was finally visible. The girl not far away raised her head slightly, adjusted the position of the red-striped scarf with her hand, and then the corners of her mouth slowly rose. Like, relieved.

I'm thinking about her at the same moment, right? There were very few people on the bus, only the front window seat was occupied. The seats in the middle and back rows were empty as if they had been completely forgotten. Then, without hesitation, she sat in the last row of the window seat on the left, and I sat not far from her.

There were two seats between us, and she was holding a comic book at the moment. The neat short black hair just clings to the ears, just enough to cover half of the face. There is a navy blue satchel next to it, so you can reach within reach.

He wears a pair of big headphones around his neck. — It seems that she should be very fond of music.

After about an hour or more of bumps, I was finally able to see the outline of the school. —At this time, the number of students around me gradually increased. After getting out of the car, I decided to follow in their footsteps and walk slowly through the not very steep slope in front of me.

The gate of the school is waiting at the end of the ramp.

"This time you must ......!" I wasn't competing against anyone, but I couldn't help but speed up my pace when I thought about it. "This hard-won second life, I will never repeat the same mistakes!" With some excitement, I walked into the hall.

At the same time, there is also a lot of talking around it. - This is the cafeteria, but apart from that, the smell of food is probably the only thing left in the oncoming air, right? But now is not the time to fill your stomach, you have to hurry to the classroom.

"Here! This way. "Because I'm a freshman, I'm led by a teacher until the front of the classroom. It was a relief to me, if it weren't for that, I'd be going to run into a wall like a headless fly, right?

The first grade classroom is on the first floor, the second floor is the second grade, the third floor is the third grade, and the second classroom on the right side of the corridor is our class. - "Let's just sit down, right?" Don't worry so much, just pick your favorite location. ”

That's what the teacher said, so it didn't take long for everyone to find a place. Most people are very fond of the front row and the middle row, and as a result, there are still a lot of empty seats on both sides. I didn't really care, and picked a random window seat in the penultimate row. As a result, it happened to be at the next table with her.

At this time, she slowly took off the headphones, took out a pair of wireless headphones from her pocket, and put them on her ears. —"Wireless headphones? Does she like music so much? Or are you just not going to attend the lecture? ”

However, she wore the pair of wireless headphones for the whole class, and at the same time she was taking notes carefully, and it was me who felt that the class was boring. In the end, I fell asleep groggily on my desk.

"Isn't it appropriate to be like this on the first day of class?" After that, of course, I was greeted by the teacher's angry expression, "You think my class is quite boring, don't you?" Chihiro-san?! ”

"No, I never thought so, you misunderstood!"

As a result, I was kicked out of the classroom before I could justify my actions. - "Ten laps around the playground!" Immediately!! After that, I had to do it. After all, there is no way to argue.

For a while after that, I had to pick myself up and readjust to being a student who I had forgotten about for a long time. I also try to get used to the way and atmosphere between my classmates.

Gradually, everyone became familiar with each other. Especially the class leader, Izumi, who seems to take special care of me. Even, in the eyes of others, she has a good impression of me. "Hey, Chihiro!" During her lunch break that day, she greeted me again before going to the cafeteria as usual.

Then before I tried to slip away, he quickly made his way through the crowd and grabbed me firmly by the shoulder. - "Let's go to the cafeteria, right?" "Immediately after, I was invited by her without hesitation." No, today I want to eat alone. ”

With a slightly embarrassed expression, I basked in the jealous stares around me; While saying with difficulty, "Why?" Doesn't that seem pitiful? Then, while asking the question, she didn't even intend to listen to me and pulled me out of the classroom.

"Squad leader, I have a question I don't understand—"

While taking the pork chop rice from her, we picked a spot in the corner. I'm also going to ask her why she's been obsessed with me. "What? I'll tell you anything I can answer. Except for the part that can't be asked. ”

She said with a wicked smile as she sat down across from her. "Why do you invite me to eat with you every time? Could it be that you don't have any friends, squad leader? Unexpectedly, as soon as she finished speaking, she put on a painful expression as if she was very frustrated, "It's really a bit hurtful to be said by you mercilessly, generally speaking, like this, even if you see it, don't say it!" ”

After saying that, she glared at me without hesitation. While stirring the sauce that had just been poured into the bowl with his chopsticks, "That's fine." Then he sighed as if he felt sorry. But why am I looking for you—"

Immediately after, while chewing on the pork chops, she continued the unfinished words with some vagueness, "Because you can get along with me naturally!" You know? I've received almost a dozen letters since yesterday! ”

"So much? About what? ”

"Confession."

I can only smile wryly at the vaguely guessed answer. "Wouldn't that be nice?" Then, a sentence was echoed. "What a good! Super bothersome!? She waved her hand mercilessly. It's like trying to get rid of annoying flies.

"There seems to be some rumors about us during this time, and of course I know that. However, because of this, there were many fewer letters like mountains before. So for me I can't ask for it. Then, she went on to explain.

"Of course, if this causes you trouble, I apologize—I'm sorry."

"It's okay." I immediately reassured her, "It's not a bad thing for me after all." Izumi listened to my words and jumped with joy as if his eyes were shining, "Huh?" Right! So, it's a win-win relationship! ”

"Then again, I should have told you the reason from the beginning. I'm sorry—" She added, bowing her head and drinking some soup. Then, in order to hide his shyness, he pretended to cough lightly a few times.

"I don't mean to blame you, but I have to thank you for telling me so frankly."

After this, Izumi finally breathed a sigh of relief, "Originally, I thought I would be hated and misunderstood by you, but it seems that I thought too much—" Then, we returned to the light topic as before.

"Ah...... Is she also alone today? ”

Until Izumi said this as if he had suddenly thought of it. "Who?" I asked, looking up in confusion, as I poured the remaining little soup from the bowl down my throat. "Your next table. Look, it's over there—"

Following the direction she pointed, in the opposite corner, I found her. —Sitting there alone, headphones resting on the back of a chair, eating a bowl of noodles and a plate of curry rice for about two people as if no one was around, with a textbook and notebook in front of him.

"In the past six months, I haven't seen her talk to anyone. It's always alone after school, and the only thing you want to say is that pair of headphones. Don't you think it's weird? Izumi had a thoughtful expression; Tell me at the same time.

"It's just that you're not good at getting along with people, right? After all, not everyone is like you, the squad leader. ”

"Hey, are you praising me or hurting me?" As soon as the words fell, she knocked her head with chopsticks. The afternoon class also went very smoothly and it was soon time for the end of school. Because the destinations were not the same, the two of us separated on the way.

I'm the only one left, walking on the asphalt road that has been whitewashed countless times by the sunset. At this moment, just as I passed a phone booth that was not very conspicuous, the phone rang from there—it was as if it was clearly asking me to answer.

Because, there is no one else on this road now.

After some struggle, Chihiro finally gave up thinking and walked towards the phone booth. And finally persuaded himself to pick up the earpiece hanging on it, "How's that?" The second life, if you can, let me hear your feelings, right? ”

Immediately after, something like this came from the earpiece—it was supposed to be a girl's voice, but he was not familiar with it.

Then, Chihiro hung up the phone without thinking. Because he thinks it's just a simple prank. The moment he stepped out of the phone booth, the girl who passed in front of him managed to catch his attention - because the headset that had been hanging around her neck fell on the ground behind her, but she didn't seem to notice it at all.

"Your headphones are off—"

I bent down to pick up her headphones that had fallen on the floor and told her. Strangely enough, however, she didn't look back. "Your headphones are off!" Feeling a little strange, I shouted again, in a louder voice than before. Yet she still didn't seem to hear......

"Your headphones just fell off."

Strange and strange, I caught up with her and patted her on the shoulder—and that's when she finally turned around. Then, as I shoved the headphones into her hand, she bowed her head deeply in a panic and thanked me.

However, she didn't speak, just showed me an embarrassed expression and smiled, "It's nothing, don't be so sloppy next time." I told her. After that, she bowed her head to me for the third time. Then, pointing to the road behind him—

"I see, goodbye."

After that, we took different steps.