I failed miserably, as usual. 

As my hands lay lifelessly on the warm wooden desk, I pointlessly stared at a tree right outside the school grounds. Sweat was dripping from my brow as the merciless warm air kept flowing into the classroom, rarely bringing relieving gentle breeze with it. 

It had been a month since we had last seen each other, marking the beginning of June. We were closer to the summer break than the opening ceremony, which was a little bit uplifting for me. Actually, I didn’t know why I was looking forward to it - summer break was nothing but a month filled with endless boredom. The only good thing I could find about it was that I didn’t have to wake up early, and less homework. 

I hadn’t seen that girl at all during that month. I really do mean it. It was true that I hadn’t been purposely looking for her at all, but even on the way to school, or walking around the hallway, my eyes hadn’t even once caught a glimpse of that conspicuous blonde hair. 

I wonder, how had she managed to do that? Perhaps she had long since transferred away and I wouldn’t see her again in my life? Or maybe she was actually that good at hiding like a spy or a ninja? 

I knew that if I really wanted to, I could likely find her either on the rooftop or in her classroom, but I had kept putting it off for later and eventually completely gave up. Besides, the roof probably wasn’t a good place to stay at anymore, because the sun was shining so intensely that it would cause one to become sunburned after only a dozen of minutes, and if it wasn’t enough, the warm air in combination with the lack of wind made it uncomfortable. I wonder if she had still been going there. 

During that month, nothing noteworthy had happened in my life. Every day, I woke up tired only to eat breakfast and go to school on my bike. At school, sometimes Yamaguchi talked to me about the usual, a teacher asked me for help, there was a test I passed on average or slightly better. After few hours passed, I finally set off home where after doing my homework, I played some games or read a book. It was the entirety of my daily routine, there wasn’t anything more. Nothing exciting. I saw people here and there having fun doing various things like going out to eat together, talking about something I couldn’t comprehend, or even something as obvious as playing sports together. 

When was I going to start enjoying life? In high school? 

Yes, in high school I was going to join a club, find new friends and have fun together every day! 

Wasn’t that thinking a bit too foolish, though? I heard somewhere that if you wanted to change your life, you should start doing it promptly. 

I looked around the classroom. There were some groups of people gathered together, some desks left empty and sometimes someone quietly sitting at his desk, spending the break alone just like me. Yep, no way I could just stand up and approach one of them. 

As I returned to staring outside the window, I let out a sigh that would be audible to someone standing right next to me.  

Maybe it was better like that... At least I had more time to myself, which in fact I usually ended up spending a bit too deficiently, but it wasn’t all that bad... 

Come to think of it, during the week since we had accidentally stumbled upon each other on the staircase, until we had met for the last time on the rooftop where she left me with the words ‘See you then, human’, I had been having so much fun like never before. In spite of all this embarrassment and anxiety that filled my heart every day, I was left satisfied at the end of the day. 

Even though I knew that, my body just couldn’t bring itself to head for her classroom, where she had likely currently been. That’s how it looked almost every day for that month. 

If it wasn’t for that wall, we would have been less than four desks apart from each other. Yet, this distance was enough to effectively render me unable to do anything. 

•

The school day passed without anything interesting happening. Having already changed my shoes, I left the building using the door together with a few people I obviously didn’t know, and headed for the bike parking space. Immediately I felt the warm air which I still hadn’t gotten used to all throughout my body. 

As I swiftly hopped on the bike, starting to turn the pedals, I found it more exhausting than usual. Making my way through the small groups of students here and there, I finally reached the gate and rode straight past it. 

That was when I thought – maybe I should try taking a detour? There wasn’t anything interesting waiting for me at home, and I definitely didn’t look suspicious wandering around in my uniform at this time of the day, so why not? 

Reaching an intersection, I turned left instead of going straight on where I usually did. Since it was my neighborhood where I had been living for my entire life, I knew the roads there quite well. The thing was that I hadn’t ventured outside my usual road for some time now. Even when I left my house, where I usually went to was a nearby convenience store. 

Riding the empty, well-maintained, narrow concrete road, I passed through numerous houses and small apartment buildings. There were also some family-run businesses like bakeries once in a while. 

The wind I felt on my body was really, really weak. It made me exhausted pretty quickly and I already wanted to head back – but I somehow still pushed forward. 

Finally, I reached a more major road, on which cars drove. If I turned right, I would reach the train station I hadn’t seen in a few months now. It was also closer to my final destination. Turning left, there was an uphill road that led to grounds a bit less known by me, so I didn’t really want to go there. It didn’t take me much time to decide to choose the former. 

... 

As I was approaching the station, the buildings around me were gradually becoming taller and taller – I mean, this still were the outskirts of the city, so they weren’t even nearly as tall as those in the more famous districts, but it still differed from the low houses where I came from. 

It was very likely that when I would finally go to high school, it would become necessary to commute by train, which would definitely prolong my daily journey. 

In front of the station there was a bus parking lot and a large tiled pavement with lamps, trees and benches here and there, which could serve as a meeting spot for example. There was also a small shopping mall with a supermarket, a few restaurants and other stores. 

Even though it wasn’t that far from my house or school, it seemed like a gate to a different world for me – a large world of mature people that I wasn’t ready to enter yet. 

Why did I have thoughts like that while seeing a normal train station? There was certainly something wrong with me... 

Since I had been exhausted, I got off the bike to sit on a nearby bench. I sank into it as if it were a sofa, and mindlessly looked forward at the cars and passersby walking around. 

... 

“What are you doing, you idiot.” 

Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice from my right. I instinctively turned around to look at the person that said that, and what I saw was a face I had last seen today morning, when I was eating breakfast with my family. 

It was a black-haired figure clad in a uniform that seemed serious, at least to me. On her shoulder there hung a bag. It was my sister. I realized that she indeed had been commuting from that station to her school every day, but it was still too early for her to be there. 

“No, what are you doing here”, I retorted. 

Speaking of which, I hadn’t talked to her personally for a longer time. Usually she was only a part of the discussion during breakfast and dinner – but we almost never talked to each other directly. 

“You look like a worn-out cyclist after riding one hundred kilometers right now. You only need this funny-looking tight jersey”, she said in a seemingly unconcerned manner, “You would never ride even five kilometers though, haha”, she ended her sentence with a quiet laugh. 

She exaggerated it a little. Certainly I got exhausted pretty quickly, but riding five kilometers on a bike wasn’t that much of a problem even to me, unless it was uphill. 

My sister was a person completely different from me, which probably was the main reason why we didn’t get along well. She was two years older than me, so she was a second year in high school. 

“Aren’t you a bit too early?” I asked her the question I was interested in. 

“There was no club for some reason. Not your business by the way.” 

Rude as always. Surprisingly, if I were to compare her to Yamaguchi, I’d say she was less annoying, because at least she didn’t talk to me out of her own concern. 

"Are you waiting for your girlfriend here or something? Ah, I forgot. You would never find one”, she didn’t even chuckle while saying that. 

Usually I would say ‘It’s not like you have a boyfriend’, but according to one of the recent talks over dinner, she had found one. I didn’t know what he looked like or anything, but I couldn’t care less about that. 

“Go home already...”, I said since I didn’t want to talk with her any longer. 

“How rude! I was joking. We live in times when even someone like you can find someone”, did she try to console me? I didn’t quite understand that. 

“Argh, it’s so hot... Take me home”, she continued as she waved her hand in front of her head as if imitating a fan. 

“How?” I let out my confusion. 

“Isn’t it obvious? You have this thingy here. I’ll buy you a candy”, she said as she pointed at the bike. 

Wait, did she want to take her on my back? Apart from her being too heavy to carry by me, wasn’t she embarrassed? 

“No way.” 

Having heard that, she proceeded to grab the bike by the frame. What was that action supposed to be? She looked at me with a smirk on her face. 

“I’m taking it hostage.” 

“What!” I shouted out accidentally. 

“Now you have to take me with you!” she suddenly started behaving like a little child. 

“It’s not like I can’t go on foot from here...” 

Still looking directly at me, she furrowed her brows and let go of the bike. 

“Tch. You’re no fun.” 

Hadn’t I heard that somewhere before? 

Just when I thought she was going to give up and go, she suddenly hopped on the bike and started pedaling forwards. 

“See you!” she shouted out as she raised her hand with a bag hanging on the shoulder, without turning around to me. 

Confused, I could only slightly open my mouth and let out an ‘eh?’ sound. Puzzled, I mindlessly looked at her gradually becoming distant. When she finally lowered her hand, her bag accidentally fell on the ground and not long after, the rest of her body followed. 

“Ouch!” I heard her shouting from a distance. 

I stood up from the bench and leisurely approached her with a bag on my shoulder. Who’s the idiot now? was what I would have said if I was harsh like her. She hadn’t picked herself up yet when I reached her. Her eyes looked straight at me, to a level of making me slightly uneasy. 

“Alright, I’ll take you...” sighing, I showed my mercy, or rather naivety in the end. 

“Thank you! You’re the best brother ever!!” she said from the ground as on her face appeared a broad smile, likely sarcastically. 

... 

She sat sideways on the back rack of the bike, embracing my waist with her school bag in between, so I didn’t feel more parts of her body at all. Having kicked the ground to make the vehicle move, I found the pedals a lot harder to turn. 

“...” 

This was my first time riding like that with someone, and probably the last. Usually, I would probably manage to take us home without suffering too much – she wasn’t that heavy after all, but since it was an extraordinarily sweltering day, it was just as tiring as running a marathon. 

“Yahoo!” she shouted as she sat behind me not putting any effort, just as if she were a princess. 

Even though that situation was clearly embarrassing, at that moment I didn’t find it as such. It was most likely because I was with a person that was familiar to me, which just made me think less about what I was doing. Besides, I didn’t really care if someone I knew, for example a classmate, saw me in these circumstances. 

That said, I still had some other worries. Carrying a person like that wasn’t entirely legal, and we were just by a major road, so if, for example, a police car happened to pass by, we were likely to have an unpleasant occurrence. 

“Are you always that slow? See, this guy just passed us on foot!” she said as she pointed her finger at a person on the other side of the road, but I couldn’t really see that as I was paying attention to the road in front of me. 

“Could you stop moving restlessly like that, or else we’re going to fall...” 

Finally, we reached a pedestrian crossing where we had to turn right in order to head towards our home, so I stopped my bike and got off it waiting for a green light. Having made my way past it, I got on again and started pedaling faintly again. We were now on a side alley where cars rarely drove on, so I didn’t have to worry about being caught by the police anymore. In fact, this alley was so narrow that I don't think a car would fit there. 

A person walked past us glancing at us strangely. I couldn’t be surprised. My sister, sitting behind me, was actually a little bit shorter than me. It was apparent that she was older than me though – after all, I wore an uniform of a middle school, whereas she had a high school one, with a pretty large badge engraved on it which made it look a lot more serious. That said, unless someone looked carefully, we didn’t seem like siblings at first sight. 

What would someone seeing us in this situation most likely think about us? That’s right – that we were a couple, but a pretty strange one – the guy was apparently younger than the girl. 

Alright, I couldn’t care less about that. 

“Takao, which high school do you think are you going to choose?” she asked me unexpectedly in a casual tone. 

“I don’t know... probably an average one. I don’t want the rules to be too strict but I still want to go on to a proper college... probably...” 

Also, I didn’t want to study too hard. Some people thoughtlessly aimed at the best school possible, studying themselves almost to death, and then ended up in a school with ferocious rules and inhuman schedules, not having time for themselves left at all. That was why I had been aiming at an average school. I still wanted to enjoy my childhood while it still lasted, because later... there were many things that genuinely frightened me waiting for me. Probably I would grow to come to terms with them over time, but wasn’t I still a bit too young to think about that? 

What surprised me though, was that this ridiculous sister of mine picked such a serious topic. 

“I see, then you won’t pick mine. What a relief...” 

So she asked that question just to confirm whether I wanted to choose her school? That’s my sister for you... 

Looking at my surroundings, there was still a long way left to our house. Come to think of it, the distance to the station was probably equal to, if not longer than the one to my school. On the other hand, I was currently a lot slower than usual on this bike, which might have been why I felt like that. 

Under the brightly shining sun, finally a weak wind of relief reached my fatigued body. 

This day was the only one that looked differently ever since I had last met that blonde girl at school. I had decided to take a detour to the station, where I accidentally met with my sister, and here I was, carrying her home on my bike. Actually, I wanted to reach home as soon as possible, and get carried away by routine like always. 

That was when I thought, maybe I should ask her for an advice concerning that girl? Unlike me (or Yamaguchi), she was a normal person, and what’s more, actually a girl like her, although I didn’t think that meant anything since that blonde girl was a very peculiar one. 

“Kureha, can I exchange that candy for a piece of advice?” 

I knew that she had merely joked with that candy, but I mentioned it anyways. She took a while without response, and then asked: 

“What?” 

That was when I was supposed to begin describing my situation, but obviously, I felt too embarrassed to. That was an incredibly annoying trait of mine, but I couldn’t just get rid of it. That said, there probably wasn’t a person in existence that I would confess easier. 

“There is one person that... I kinda want to meet...” 

In the end, I had decided not to mention that I was talking about a girl. I just tried my hardest not to specify her gender. 

“I haven’t seen them for a month now, even though they attend the same school as me... and they’re like, really weird.” 

She didn’t say anything, so looking at the road before me, I felt as if I were letting those words out into a void. 

“They stay longer at school longer for no reason whatsoever, and go to the rooftop alone at breaks...” 

I told her all that I had known, not telling a single lie. I hoped that she wouldn’t laugh at me, but I knew that she was able to. 

“And I just sorta want to get to know that person better...” 

After that, I remained silent for a longer while just cycling forward. I didn’t hear a response from her... was that she ignored me, or was she preparing to laugh, or maybe she was preparing an answer? 

Suddenly, a voice came out of the void behind me. 

“Huh... that’s interesting” 

A while of silence followed before she continued, 

“You said that person stays at school longer than usual?” 

“Yes...” I confirmed it, not having an idea why she had asked that question. 

The alley I was supposed to turn to and not long after reach our home came into my view. 

“Then you should know where to look for her, right?” 

Her statement left me confused. Why would I know where I should look for... Wait, she said ‘her’? I didn’t mention that I was talking about a girl, did I? How had she guessed it? Should I still try to conceal it, or give up? 

Understanding her sentence little by little, I realized that she had told me to look for her at school... but right now? I recalled when she had been waiting in the classroom twenty minutes after the classes ended, but I wasn’t sure if she had been doing so every day or made an exception only once because we were supposed to meet. Besides, wasn’t it long past twenty minutes? I think it was more like an hour, but I didn’t have a clock, so I might have been wrong. 

“Are you that dense? I meant that you should head to school right now, you even have a bike so you can get there quickly.” 

But isn’t it too late now?, were the words I wanted to say but somehow couldn’t. 

“Stop here”, she said as we reached the alley I was supposed to turn to. Our house was already clearly visible. I stopped there as she told me to. 

Her arms wrapped around my waist loosened, after which I saw her standing next to me. 

“I can take your bag”, she said as she extended a hand to me. I did just like she told me to, taking off the bag from my arm and handing it to her. 

Her actions left me confused. So I was right now unexpectedly supposed to drive back to school in order to look for that blonde girl? Strangely enough, I was able to convince myself to. 

“Good luck”, she said as she turned around and headed off into the distance. 

Maybe my sister wasn’t that bad of a person after all, I thought... 

I turned to look at the road in front of me. If I hurried, I was able to reach the school in less than five minutes, but I honestly doubted that she had still been there. Somehow, I felt like my sister left me with a little bit of courage I usually lacked, so that made it easier for me to just stroll off in spirit of the words ‘Here goes nothing!’. After all, it wasn’t like I had anything to lose – I didn’t have anything to do at home, so even if the school turned out to be empty, it still wouldn’t be a waste of time. 

My feet pushed the pedals mightily, and I felt a wind which hadn’t been there before supporting me from behind. I felt more emotions driving past the houses I had been seeing every day. Since I didn’t worry anymore about me getting more exhausted, I reached a speed I hadn’t been able to achieve ever before. To be honest, if the road wasn’t completely empty, I wouldn’t have ridden so quickly for I would fear an accident. 

I kept panting heavily, definitely heavier than when I had ran after that girl on the day it was raining. 

Reaching the intersection, I quickly looked around in search of a figure, but didn’t see anyone conspicuous like she would have been. 

Before long, the school entrance reached my eyes. The school didn’t seem deserted as it did back then, probably because there were lots of people attending their club activities in the open air, for example playing sports. 

That was when all the nervousness finally reached me, causing me to feel like unable to breathe, and moving my limbs became harder than ever before – it was just like the charm given me by my sister had worn off. Even though there was no way that girl had really been inside, I was afraid to check it. Why did I have to be such a coward? What was I actually afraid of? 

I stood in front of the school building motionless as the sound of a ball rubbing against a sandy field together with people talking and laughing around reached my ears, and my entire body felt the merciless heat. I almost fell off the bike, but I supported myself with my leg in the last moment. 

There was no way that girl had still been inside, was there?