Chapter 11

Homework sucks! I want that wild and crazy student life! I’d joined a club I’d never expected to, got betrayed by my friend (at least the one time), but overall was having a great time. This is my story—the story of Gonzaburo Tashiro’s chaotic and absolutely once-in-a-lifetime school life! Yeah, okay, enough joking. Recently, I’d started to take notice of a couple of my classmates. I mean, I’ve started to worry about them. One of them was Kuresawa, who’d been in some kind of fight first term. The other was Miyano, who seemed to be getting closer and closer to one of our scariest-looking upperclassmen. We’d been classmates for about six months at this point, and although we shared plenty of friendly chatter, they never did tell me what really happened in those days before summer break. I was starting to think the same upperclassman who was sniffing around Miyano had somehow been involved. Today we only had morning classes because there was an event to prepare for. We’d had a short homeroom meeting, and then the day was over, and now I was chatting with Shirahama, who’d been my buddy since middle school. “You don’t have any plans today, right?” I asked. Shirahama was on the basketball team, and their practice schedule was pretty set in stone, so I knew when he was going to be free. Sometimes things changed before a game, though, so I had to make sure. “Yeah, nothing.” “In that case, I’ve got an idea. How about we go eat some cake?” “Cake?” Shirahama looked at me curiously. “You know how people put up their Christmas decorations once we hit December? Like, all the light displays and everything? Well, I saw the Christmas cakes, and boy, do I want to eat one.” “Hah! Yeah, I feel you.” The displays took over almost immediately after Halloween. They were everywhere, they were inescapable, and they were practically calculated to set a high school guy’s stomach growling. “Let’s give ourselves an early Christmas present!” “Very early. Christmas is still a month away!” True enough. We had lots of time. But a guy could dream, couldn’t he? “Eh, it’s all good. I’m gonna save my real Christmas cake feast to have with my girlfriend anyway!” “You, Tashiro? A girlfriend? Not likely!” Shirahama guffawed. Wow, real nice. “Hey, you never know!” I shot back. “There could be a love letter waiting for me in my shoe cubby right this minute!” “Well, if there is, just remember that this is an all-boys school.” Gah! He was right! I’d been so blind. Shirahama could laugh about love letters all he wanted, but I knew he was in the same boat. After all, he didn’t have a girlfriend, either. “Anyway, cake, sure,” he said. “How about we get a few other guys? The more, the merrier.” No argument from me. “Sure, I’ll go ask them,” I said. I immediately got up and went over to where Miyano and Kuresawa were having their usual is-it-a-conversation, is-it-not-a-conversation chat. “Hey, we’re gonna grab some cake after this. You guys in?” I said. They both looked up and answered in unison, “No thanks.” I was kind of impressed by their near harmony. Still, I said, “You never want to go anywhere. What’re you so busy with?” “I’ve got dinner with my girlfriend tonight.” “Not really asking you, Kuresawa. Coulda guessed your reason.” Everyone in class knew about Kuresawa’s girlfriend-first policy. He hadn’t talked too much about his personal life during first term, but somehow that was one thing that got around in a hurry. “I don’t really like cake,” Miyano said. I made a sound of surprise. Miyano seemed like such a dessert kind of guy. “You definitely look like the cake-liking type,” I said. “And what look is that, pray tell?” said Miyano, clearly annoyed.