Chapter 3:
A New Stage
AFTER SPRING BREAK, which somehow seemed both long and short at the same time, had ended, the opening ceremony was finally here. On that day, we moved from the first-year classroom that we had grown so familiar with and into a new classroom for second-year students. At first glance, the chairs and desks all looked the same. But at the same time, they felt different, somehow.
The first thing that we saw awaiting us when we arrived at the classroom was a message written on the blackboard.
“Sit in the same seats you were assigned in your first year and wait.”
Up until last year, what students referred to as a blackboard was, well, something that teachers used chalk to write on. However, the blackboard in front of us wasn’t really a blackboard at all. A large monitor had replaced the blackboard, hanging on the wall. Judging from the fact that it shone like it was brand new, I was guessing monitors had only just been brought in this year.
The students who arrived at the classroom after me also seemed quite surprised when they saw the new blackboard. I decided to take my seat as instructed, heading toward the spot in the far back of the room, near the window. Later in the day, the opening ceremony would be held in the gymnasium. After that, the homeroom instructors would spend about two hours going over the schedule and the requirements for this year, and then we would be dismissed later in the morning.
Since spring break had only just ended, some students still seemed to be in a bit of a daze. Friends who hadn’t seen each other for a while were talking animatedly about things like what they were up to during the break. While I was randomly surfing the internet on my phone looking for information, someone called out to me.
“Hey.”
It was my classmate, Miyake Akito. He was one of the people in the small group of friends that I had gotten close with.
“I was a little worried ’bout you, since you didn’t come to hang out with the group all that much during the break,” said Akito.
That was certainly true. I hadn’t really interacted at all with the group during spring break. Or rather, I suppose, I should say I’d been negligent because I had been so busy dealing with various other issues.
“I mean, there’s no rule that says that we have to meet up or anythin’ of course, but Haruka was pretty worried. And Airi especially was concerned about you, it seemed like.” Akito was basically advising me to be mindful of the feelings of the girls in our group.
“Sorry. I’ll plan to hang out with you guys occasionally,” I replied.
“That’d be good. I was feelin’ a little lonely without you around myself,” said Akito.
I did feel a little bit uneasy, hearing that from a friend. But it wasn’t a bad feeling. Akito gave me a light wave, as if to tell me he wasn’t planning on hanging around my seat for long, and then returned to his own desk.
I really felt like I had made some good friends. I mean, he even went out of his way to give me some friendly advice.
After he had left, I didn’t feel like fiddling around with my phone anymore, so I decided to listen in on what the other people in class were saying. The topic of conversation had shifted from what people did over spring break to the new students. Tomorrow was the entrance ceremony, when new first-year students would arrive.
Last year, we Class D students had gotten carried away by the good treatment we received from the school at first and been tripped up as a result. But that was understandable. We were given one thousand Class Points immediately upon enrollment, the equivalent of one hundred thousand yen. Students were incredibly excited by the large amount of money that they thought they’d be receiving every month, and many went on buying sprees, getting all kinds of things they wanted. Furthermore, tardiness and absences were common, and many students had private conversations or took naps in class.
The serious students, on the other hand, were focused only on themselves, not on paying attention to what was going on around them. I was sure there were many reasons for their lack of attention to the others, but the school’s apparent neglect of the problem children was probably the biggest one. After all, if the teachers weren’t giving them any warnings, then the students surely didn’t need to do so. Or so they thought.
But I supposed you could say that was just the first “special exam” this school had for us. The school was testing us, to see if we could realize that the education we were receiving here was different from the compulsory education we received in elementary school and junior high. And Class D had gotten the lowest possible evaluation in that special exam. Quite spectacularly so.
In the following month, May, our Class Points had dropped to zero. Meaning the number of points we received in our accounts that month suddenly plummeted to a happy zero as well. After that, Class D faced a series of trials and tribulations throughout the year. But after our class had hit rock bottom, our scattered, disparate classmates slowly started to mature, and the class became more unified. At one point, we even managed to make it up to Class C. But unfortunately, because of what happened at the year-end final exam, we were demoted back down to Class D.
However, our class had managed to regain two hundred and seventy-five Class Points by the end of the year. While there was still a huge gap between us and Class A, the most important aspect of our attempt to reach for the top was just how many Class Points we could gain over this next year, our second at this school.
“Good morning!” said a rather energetic girl, her voice carrying across the room.
The girls in the classroom reacted as soon as those words were said. They gathered around the speaker, who was the leader of the girls in our class, Karuizawa Kei. The number of girls around her kept increasing. Before I knew it, they’d resumed the same conversations they’d just been having
Also, it was just the other day that I had started dating Kei, our class’s queen bee. The only person who knew that fact right now, aside from me, was Kei herself.
As I reminisced, while listening to the conversations around me, a surprised shout—no, more of a shriek—reverberated throughout the classroom. When I looked up to see what was happening, I immediately realized what the shock and awe was all about. You could say it was an exceedingly natural reaction to have upon seeing what the girl who had just quietly arrived at school looked like.
The girl, despite attracting the attention of everyone around her, didn’t react at all to everyone’s surprise. Instead, she went to take her seat, right next to mine. Her formerly long, beautiful black hair was gone. It was now rather short, not even shoulder length.
She had reconciled with her older brother, Horikita Manabu, and decided to say goodbye to her past self, cutting her hair to reflect that decision. It was precisely because I knew that that I wasn’t surprised right now, but I supposed that if this were my first time seeing her like this, I would probably have reacted similarly to those around me.
“S-Suzune…? You, your hair… What happened to your hair?!” shouted Sudou Ken, flustered. He abandoned the conversation he’d been having with his friend and ran over toward Horikita. Sudou was one of our classmates, and he was also in love with Horikita.
One other person, a girl, seemed perplexed by Horikita’s transformation and approached her in a similar fashion. “Horikita-san, you’ve…had a complete makeover. I’m so surprised!” she said.
Kushida Kikyou. Another of our classmates, and someone who had attended the same junior high as Horikita.
“Is it really so strange that I cut my hair?” Horikita shot glances not only at Sudou, but at the many other students who were staring at her.
“W-well, no, it’s not like, strange or anythin’, it’s just surprisin’ is all… It’s like, with this hairstyle, you’ve got a completely different look and all… Well, um, it’s not like I’m saying it doesn’t work for you or anything! I think you look good with short hair, too. D-don’t you think so too, Kushida?” said Sudou.
While the sudden change in her appearance certainly had quite the impact, from Sudou’s point of view, things like the length of her hair were trivial. If anything, he welcomed his crush’s new look with open arms, showing that he was quite happy about it. However, Kushida couldn’t really hide her discomfort when Sudou suddenly put her on the spot, asking for her to agree.
“Yeah, I suppose. Yeah. I think it looks good on her. But… Did something happen?” She must not have wanted to explain what she thought in detail, because she shifted the topic of conversation to asking about the reason Horikita had cut her hair.
“Wait, whaddya mean, did something happen? Like what?” asked Sudou, jumping at Kushida’s question before Horikita could respond herself.
“Well, for example… maybe she had her heart broken, or something,” said Kushida.
“B-B-B-B-broken?!” stammered Sudou.
“If I had to say anything, it’s an expression of my determination,” replied Horikita, without skipping a beat, as if trying to banish the words heart and broken from the air.
“O-okay, I see. Yeah, there’s no way you’d have your heart broken or something, right?” said Sudou.
Despite saying that, he seemed like he was breaking out in a cold sweat.
“Now that we’re second-year students, I’m going to fight to make sure Class D rises to the top. And I want to do what I can to make that happen,” said Horikita.
“I see, okay. Well, in that case… Maybe I’ll try the opposite, grow my hair out,” said Kushida.