Chapter 1:
Marriage Out of the Blue
AKANE’S ANGRY ROAR BOOMED PAST THE third-years in classroom 3-A.
“Hey, you didn’t fill in the class journal properly before you left yesterday!” Akane chided.
“Yes, I did.” Saito grimaced. “I did everything the Day Duty was supposed to do.”
Saito put the textbooks inside his desk drawer as he answered. He always thought the Day Duty system was a waste of time, but it was what the school and the teachers thought was necessary for the students, so he put up with it. Akane, who was on Day Duty today, slammed the class journal onto Saito’s desk.
“It just says ‘Nothing special’ in the comment section! What’s that supposed to mean?” Akane interrogated.
“Just what it says. There was nothing special to mention yesterday,” Saito replied matter-of-factly.
“You phoned it in for Class Schedule too! It just reads ‘See official class schedule.’ Are you even taking this seriously?” Akane accused.
“There was no change in the schedule yesterday. Is repeating it every single time really necessary?” Saito replied.
“Of course it is, Houjou-san. Why do you think there’s a section for that? Nothing is filled in the Communication section either, and by the way, you did a terrible job cleaning up the blackboard at the end of the day. Also, why does it say ‘Chimimoryo’1 here in the Absentee section? I wasn’t aware there were any evil mountain and river spirits present in our class to begin with.” Akane’s pursuit was relentless.
“Aren’t those kanji characters so cool?” Saito countered.
“Yeah… I guess…” Akane reluctantly agreed.
“‘Chimimoryo ga Choryobakko’2—so fun to say too! Whoever came up with that phrase in olden times was a genius,” Saito said, clasping his hands together.
Akane suddenly snapped. “Nobody cares! The class journal isn’t your personal scribbling pad!”
“It doesn’t matter. Nobody reads it anyway,” replied Saito.
“I do!” Akane hissed.
“Wow, you must have a lot of time on your hands.”
“No, I don’t!” Akane was losing it.
Saito sighed. “…Ugh, so annoying.”
“Annoying? How dare you!” Akane glared at Saito, breathless.
“If you have all this time on your hands, you should use it for something useful like reading books instead of nagging me.” There was an entirely unwelcome paternal tone to Saito’s voice.
Akane snapped right back at him, “It’s not nagging! I am trying to teach you a valuable lesson!”
“I’m good, actually. Leave me alone.”
Saito just didn’t get Akane. Even though Saito and Akane had been in the same homeroom class since freshman year, they had never gotten along. Saito never read what others wrote in the class journal, so why was Akane so worked up?
Akane’s best friend Ishikura Himari placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Come on, Akane, that’s enough. He looks like he’s about to cry.”
“No way, am not!” Saito replied, duly humiliated.
Crying was the one thing Saito resolved not to do. He was annoyed by the way Akane had been messing with him every day, sure, but he wasn’t about to let loose the waterworks over a simple verbal quarrel.
Akane accusingly pointed her finger at Saito.
“But it’s his fault! He wasn’t a responsible Day Duty person. For that matter, he isn’t a responsible person in the first place!”
“I’m plenty responsible. Get your finger out of my face,” Saito retorted.
“Good point. I get my finger any closer to you and it’ll probably rot away by proximity.”
“You sure are a rude bitch.” Saito had had enough.
Himari held Akane back from behind. Akane bared her teeth at Saito like an angry dog, and Himari was the only thing stopping her from pouncing on him.
Himari looked like a typical gyaru. Her hair was a shiny, sunny golden blonde. Her school uniform hung on her loosely but skillfully styled. A necklace peeked out from under her uniform blouse, which seemed ready to burst under the strain of containing her full-sized breasts. Her long fingernails were neatly painted.
Despite her flashy appearance, Himari was much more chill than Akane. Somehow, she got along well with “the prettiest girl nobody wants to know.”
“Why do you have to be so hard on Saito-kun? You’ve been at his throat since we were juniors!” Himari pondered out loud, still restraining Akane from behind.
“Why? You want to know why?!” Akane seemed stunned. She reacted as if she’d been asked why she breathed.