April first.
Starting today, I’m a second-year. One year went by so fast.
Half of the cherry blossom trees that lined the familiar path to Ryomei had already lost their petals. When I reached the school, there was a crowd of students in front of the bulletin boards.
The new class listings must be posted. It’s the same spectacle I witnessed last year too. Now then, I wonder how we got split up. There have been a lot of changes from the first round, so the second-year homerooms are probably a lot different from what I remember. My heart pounded as I approached.
“Natsu, over here!” I heard Uta call out.
I turned in the direction of her voice to see her spiritedly waving at me. She’s a ball of energy even first thing in the morning. “Morning, Uta.”
“Mm-hmm! Long time no see!” she replied.
“Man, it really has been. What was it, two weeks?”
Tatsuya, Reita, Nanase, Hikari, Serika, and Miori were all gathered around Uta. Besides Serika, who I had seen at band practices, and Hikari, my girlfriend, I hadn’t seen the others in two weeks. They’d all had extracurriculars over spring break, and I had resolved to take the band seriously. Spring break was already short enough as it was, and so had gone by without many opportunities for us to hang out.
“Oh, Natsuki-kun, morning!” Hikari said.
“Hey, morning. What’s the class split looking like?” I greeted her back and squinted at the bulletin board. It’s hard to read the list from this far away, huh.
“Pretty much what we expected,” Miori answered.
In the third semester of their first year at Ryomei High School, students elected to take either the humanities or STEM track. From the second year onwards, the humanities kids were assigned to classes one or two, while the STEM kids were in classes three or four. In short, since I had chosen the STEM track, I was either in class three or four. Like me, Miori had also chosen STEM, so there was a fifty percent chance we would be in the same class.
“Are we in the same class?” I asked.
“Begrudgingly, yes.” Miori shrugged with a sigh.
“You’re in the same class as your childhood friend. Don’t look so openly unhappy about it,” I shot back. Then again, feeling awkward about being in the same class as the person who rejected you is only natural. I need you in my high school life, though, so put up with it again this time.
“We’re with you too, Natsuki.” Reita placed his hand on my shoulder.
“And by we, you mean...” I said.
“Yep. I’m there too. Let’s have another good year.” Tatsuya stood next to Reita and flashed me his pearly whites. Apparently, all of us who’d chosen STEM had been lucky enough to land in class three.
“Thank god! I don’t know what I would’ve done if I was alone.” I was genuinely relieved. I still hadn’t overcome my shyness. By the way, in the first round, Reita and Tatsuya had chosen humanities, so we’d been in different classes during our second year.
“And what about our humanities team?” I asked Hikari, who was standing next to me.
“I’m in class one. Serika-chan and I are in the same class,” she replied.
“Heh heh heh. Now Hikari will be mine,” Serika teased me, deadpan as always. “I’m not gonna give her back to you, Natsuki.” She hugged Hikari’s arm.
“H-Hey!” Hikari yelped. “Serika-chan?”
“Ahhh! Her arm is so soft and plush...” Serika said.
“I haven’t gained weight! I haven’t gained any weight, okay?! Don’t get the wrong idea!”
“Jiggle. Jiggle.”
“No touching my chest without permission!” Hikari cried, her face bright red. Her pleas rolled off of Serika like water off a duck’s back.
I wasn’t under the impression that they were that close, but they both have stellar communication skills, so it’s probably okay... Hold up. Please stop touching Hikari’s chest in front of the guys. Adolescent boys are sensitive! I’m glad I was the one who saw. I’m her boyfriend, so it’s okay.
“Excuse me, Natsuki-kun?”
It was supposed to be okay, but Hikari was giving me the stink eye for some reason. Right, let’s get back on topic. I looked away from her and faced a random direction. “Uhhh, so if these two are in class one, then...”
“Me and Yui-Yui are in class two!” Uta cheerfully responded.
“Unfortunately, team humanities was split up,” Nanase said. For whatever reason, she was patting Uta’s head.
Is she trying to compensate for her Hikari deficiency with Uta? Is she okay? Uta doesn’t seem to mind being petted by Nanase, though... Eh, guess it’s fine.
“Hey, it’s still better than a three-one split!” Uta said.
“That’s true,” Nanase conceded.
Truth be told, that was the future I had dreaded the most when we became second-years. I could just picture myself biting my handkerchief in frustration as I watched the others get closer in the class next door. I had been this close to falling back into a drab and gray youth.
“By the way, who else is in class three?” I asked.
“Why don’t you look with your own eyes?” Miori pointed at the bulletin board with her chin.
C-Cold. “Awww, but it’s super packed around the board.”
“It’s better to check the list yourself, at least once.”
I guess she has a point. Left with no other choice, I pushed through the horde of students and approached the bulletin board until I was finally at a distance where I could read the names.
“Let’s see, year two class three is...” The students’ names were listed in order of the Japanese syllabary.
Shinohara... Oh, nice, Mei’s in our class too. His girlfriend, Funayama-san, is also with us. I’m glad we’re in the same class. There are also several of my classmates from last year on the list, like Fujiwara and Onozawa-san. Is this group different from my first round? Unsurprisingly, I don’t remember. But I do know who’s missing from class three. For example, I should’ve been in the same class as Okajima-kun again, but he’s in class four now. History has changed because of my actions. I feel kinda bad.
Let’s organize all the info. Class one has Serika and Hikari. Class two, Uta and Nanase. Class three has me, Tatsuya, Reita, Miori, Fujiwara, Mei, and Funayama-san. Sorry, Okajima-kun, but this is pretty much my ideal class.
As for what’s changed compared to my first round, Nanase’s in class two instead of four; Reita’s in class three instead of one; Tatsuya’s in three instead of one; and Hikari’s in class one instead of three, I think? Those four chose different tracks, after all. Everyone else is where I remember them to be, but I can’t say for sure.
I was about to slip away from the bulletin board when a voice called out to me. “’Sup, Haibara. What class are you in?”
“Class three... Oh, it’s you, Hino.”
“What do you mean by that?! Aren’t we former classmates?!”
“Probably?”
“Why aren’t you sure?!”
“See you later.”
“Hold up!” Hino said. “You’re supposed to ask me what class I’m in!”
“Oh... What class’re you in?”
“Class two! Come on, be more interested in me!”
Unable to hold it in anymore, I cracked a smile. Hino’s shoulders slumped in exhaustion.
“Sorry, I was joking,” I said. He was good at playing along and responded well to my antics, so I couldn’t help pulling his leg all the time. We’d really warmed up to each other, but now we’re in different classes. I’m sad, but there’s nothing I can do about it. “You’re in class two? Then you’re with Uta and Nanase.”
“Yeah. And you’re in the same class as Kanata, right? Take care of her for me.” Hino waved as he left.