An extremely sweaty Mr. Harimoto eventually returned with a desk and chair clutched in his arms. Monika Asahi directed him to set them up in the very back of the classroom by the windows, behind Miyuki Takatomo’s desk in what was apparently no longer the backmost row. It wasn’t the most conventional choice, but since nobody in particular objected to it, the transfer student’s place on the seating chart was quickly set in stone.
Tobi’s desk was located by the windows as well, three seats from the front of the classroom. Since Asahi was now directly behind him, he’d have to crane his neck to get so much as a glimpse of her. He didn’t have any particular reason to be looking, but something about her still vaguely bothered him. Not enough to make him turn around, of course. For some reason, he had a feeling that getting caught spying on her wouldn’t go well for him. He had no reason to think so, but he couldn’t shake the feeling it was true.
The first class of the day was Japanese. Noting that Asahi didn’t have her textbooks yet, the teacher told her to look over the shoulder of one of the students sitting nearby. It was exactly the solution one would expect a teacher to suggest.
“No thanks.” But Asahi turned it down without a second thought. “I’ll just listen carefully. Should be fine, as long as you do a good job.”
“…All right, then,” the teacher replied, backing down with surprising ease. Tobi’s Japanese teacher wasn’t particularly timid, either. In fact, they were usually rather blunt and insistent. It seemed Asahi had managed to overwhelm them, however.
There was a strange intensity to the transfer student. It wasn’t that she was intimidating per se. There was just something about her that made people hesitant to agitate her. Like how you avoided setting foot in a cemetery at night, even if you didn’t really believe in ghosts. Some places just had a sinister aura that drove people away, and Asahi struck Tobi as somehow similar.
The mood in Class 2-3 was oddly subdued throughout first period, and it was obvious the new transfer student was to blame. It wasn’t just the students, either. Even Baku had clammed up. The fact that almost nobody was gawking at her was even more unusual. Even after Japanese was over, the class remained dreary and listless.
Tobi turned slightly to the side and glanced over his shoulder. He couldn’t see the transfer student’s face. She was lying face down on her desk, using her arms as a pillow, and all he could make out was the shaggy mess of her hair.
“You heard the bit where she said she wanted to ‘keep an eye on everything,’ right? Who died and made her queen?” Baku muttered sarcastically.
Just then, Tobi thought he saw the transfer student’s head shift slightly. Was it just a coincidence? Maybe, but the doubt in his mind was growing.
Ryuuko, meanwhile, had walked to the back of the classroom several times, only to turn around and return to her desk. Tobi knew her well enough to have a pretty good idea of what she was doing: She was trying to work up the nerve to talk to Asahi. She clearly wanted to, but Asahi was not your average transfer student, and Ryuuko was having trouble following through.
Asahi wasn’t the first student to transfer into Tobi’s class. He hadn’t been particularly interested in any of the others, but he vaguely remembered that there were two of them. He recalled that they both quickly became the center of attention and got bombarded with questions. A normal transfer student would have already become part of the class. Monika Asahi, however, had the classroom feeling like it was the venue for a wake.
Shinobu Asamiya made his way over to Tobi’s desk. “You know,” he said, “I just noticed something…”
“What?” asked Tobi.
“My last name and hers start the same way.”
“You mean, ‘asa’?”
“Yeah,” Asamiya said with a scowl. It seemed he wasn’t too fond of the new arrival. “How could they treat Miyu— Takatomo’s seat like that?”
At first, Tobi didn’t understand what Asamiya was talking about. After thinking it through for a moment, however, he started putting the pieces together in a vague, hazy sort of way.
Takatomo, the girl who was currently in the hospital, had been Asamiya’s neighbor, and they’d known each other since they were little kids. And now Asahi had demanded that her desk be placed behind Takatomo’s vacant seat. That was reasonable enough for the time being, but if Takatomo were to return to class, she wouldn’t have enough space behind her desk to even pull out her chair.
Tobi didn’t think Asahi had chosen the spot maliciously. That said, he also didn’t feel any obligation to defend her to Asamiya. Taking her side would only hurt Asamiya’s feelings, and Tobi didn’t like that thought very much at all.
Asamiya clearly cared a lot about Takatomo and was deeply worried about her. The majority of their classmates, however, didn’t feel so strongly—and Tobi was the same. He simply hadn’t known her well enough to be that concerned.
However, Tobi did want to cheer Asamiya up if he could. The question was, what could he say? I hope she gets better soon? No. Tobi simply couldn’t bring himself to speak those words.
“Sorry, Otogiri,” Asamiya muttered, looking down at the floor. “I don’t know why I’m so irritated right now…”
“Why shouldn’t you be?”
“Huh?”
“What’s wrong with being irritated? Seems normal to me,” said Tobi. For some reason, he couldn’t look Asamiya in the eye as he said it. Instead, he glanced toward the back of the classroom, where Ryuuko was still caught in a loop of walking partway toward Asahi, then turning around again. “I don’t think you’re acting weird at all.”
“…Right,” Asamiya said. He paused, sniffed, then let out a short laugh that seemed like a cover for some other reaction. “She’s being pretty weird, though. Shiratama, I mean.”
“Yeah…” Tobi couldn’t deny it. Ryuuko was a weird person in general, but her current pacing routine was particularly odd, even by her standards. “I think she’s trying her best, though.”
“I guess that means we shouldn’t stop her.”
“I’m not so— Oh…”
Before Tobi could finish his sentence, Shiratama took two big, purposeful steps forward. She’d drawn very close to the transfer student now. Is she gonna go for it? thought Tobi. She’s almost there.
A moment later, however, Shiratama took two equally big steps backward. Her shoulders slumped. Maybe she was disappointed with her own lack of resolve. Tobi and Asamiya glanced at each other. She’d been so close that time.
“…Well,” said Asamiya.
“…Yeah,” Tobi replied.
For the rest of the morning, every time there was a break between classes, Ryuuko would try again to make contact with Asahi. By the time lunch arrived, she had still yet to succeed.