Having parked the bike on the bicycle parking, I didn’t lock it up because I didn’t fear it being stolen – and I wouldn’t have been able to even if I did, because I left the lock in my bag I had given to my sister. 

What was I doing in front of the school building long after the classes had ended? After I had decided to take a detour on my way from school, I met my sister before the train station. Something happened in between, and I ended up taking her on my back. As we were slowly heading towards our home, I asked her for advice concerning that blonde girl I had met over a month ago. In response, she told me to leave her on an alley close to our home, and then hurriedly drive to school in order to try and find that girl. 

If you asked me, I wasn't convinced that I would find her at school at this time of the day at all, even if she really tended to stay longer after classes. I didn’t know how much time had passed, but for sure it had been over half an hour. 

Even though I honestly doubted that I would find her inside, I was afraid of entering the building. Somehow managing to successively move my feet forwards, I grabbed the handle of the front door and pushed it open. What now appeared before my eyes were the shoe racks I was used to seeing every day in the morning. 

I reached my rack and proceeded to change my shoes, because it was still compulsory even after the regular classes had ended, wasn’t it? 

The building seemed empty. If I happened to come across a teacher and they asked me what was I doing at school that late, I would have told them that I had forgotten something from my classroom, even though the classroom I was heading for currently wasn’t mine. 

Taking steady steps, I made it to the staircase, where I set off upstairs. I turned a corner and not long after, I found myself on the second floor. I looked around only instinctively, and there were no signs of a teacher or any other person there. 

Not slowing down, I turned a corner again and strolled towards the third floor, where my destination was at. The hallways seemed completely desolated, but that didn’t ease my uneasiness – it actually increased it a little. 

When I finally made it to the third floor, I turned in the direction of the classroom of 3-A. I walked past my classroom which had the door closed, and felt as though my innards were replaced by air. It was just my mind playing tricks on me, obviously, but it was quite an unpleasant feeling. 

All along, I was convinced that there was no way I could find this girl there now. That said, why was I still incredibly nervous? Was that a gut feeling that she had actually been waiting in that classroom? 

Imperceptibly, I found myself before the door behind which was my final destination. All I had to do was slid it open, and then I would finally find out. 

That was when I realized what this insecure feeling had been caused by. It was that I seemingly didn’t believe that girl hadn’t already left in the slightest, but deep inside, I actually wanted to find that face with an eyepatch behind that door, but it was just impossible. What a coincidence it would have been if she had stayed at school that long just today. 

Extending my hand, I closed my eyes and gulped heavily. With my eyes closed, I felt the handle reaching my grip and I was just one movement away of sliding the door open. It was situations like this that made me the most nervous. 

There was no way she was inside, I thought to myself. 

Having that ease my mind for a split second, I managed to move my hand just enough to make a silent sound of the door slightly opening. I continued along and slid the door open enough for me to come in, and that was when I finally opened my eyes. 

What I saw inside was... 

“But of course, there’s no way...” 

Just as I had expected, the classroom was empty. Every seat was neatly arranged next to the according desk, the blackboard was clean and a few windows open. That included her seat, which was located in the last row next to the window. I remembered that clearly for some reason, maybe because it was such a distinguishable position. 

Not closing the door behind me, I took a few steps inside in order to head for her seat. Why was I doing that? I didn’t know, I just didn’t want to leave with empty hands. Looking at the desk, I remembered her blonde hair lying peacefully on it when I had come to that classroom after classes that day. 

Not thinking about anything, I crouched down in front of her desk in order to look inside the little drawer that should have been located under each desk. I might have invaded her privacy in a way, but I did so to check whether she had perhaps transferred away, since it was one of the possibilities. If there wasn’t anything there, then it may have been true. 

It was pretty dim, but I noticed a few notebooks and sheets of paper there. I sighed with relief… why did I do that? I stood up promptly, and pushed the seat back in order to sit down on it. Why did I do that, again? 

As I gently placed my hands on the desk and looked forward, I saw the classroom from the perspective of that girl. My own seat was located almost in the very front of the room, so the teacher was close to me. Looking from the very back, I had doubts whether I would see everything written on the blackboard clearly. 

That seat gave her a clear picture of every person in that room, but at the same moment made her unable to be seen by anyone unless they were particularly turned to her. Was that a good thing? I think that depended on the person, and I guess that she was the kind that was alright with that. 

Would I exchange my seat for that one? Well, if someone asked me to, then I wouldn’t have had any issues with that, I guess. 

On the other hand, this location was sort of lonely. It was just as if the person sitting there was actually closer to the outside than the actual classroom… but I think I was reading too deep into that. 

Well then, since I had nothing left to do there, I decided to set off home. For some reason I tried to pick up my bag from the floor, but then realized that it wasn’t there, so I just stood up and without thinking and looked in the direction of the entrance, but then... 

Through the widely open door, I saw a figure standing on the hallway, staring directly into the classroom. It was a girl – she had blonde hair, and yes, an eyepatch on her left eye. A brimful bag hung on her right shoulder rested on her left hip. 

Without a doubt, it was the girl I had come here looking for. Almost an hour had passed since she should have gone home, yet she was still there. I would have never expected that I would actually find her there, though. 

“Lumiya...-san?” 

I felt like merely her stare drained me off all my resolve to move. Suddenly, I started paying attention to every breath I took, and avoided looking at her face as if something terrifying would happen to me if I did so. 

“Human, w-were you spying on me?” 

For how long had she been standing there? I didn’t hear her coming at all... Did she see me peeking under her desk? That definitely seemed ambiguous. 

“Uh... it’s not like that...” 

Saying no word to me, she proceeded to move her leg forward, and then the other one. She entered the classroom leaving the door open behind her, and took a few steps inside. Her way of walking appeared quite oddly to me – it was just as though she had to put great force into moving them, and ended up making too large steps. 

Finally, she stopped in a distance of an outstretched leg from me. Diffidently, I glanced at her face, and then averted my gaze to a point next to it. It must have looked hilarious to her. With her left hand, she reached her bag, unzipped it, rummaged for a while and brought out something triangular wrapped in paper from within it. Them, she held forth that item, most likely for me to take it. As she instructed me to, I took it. 

“I’m bestowing it on you in appreciation for offering me human food during our last meeting... I can guarantee it utmost quality, for I have personally overseen its production process”, she said staring at my hand holding this triangle-shaped something. 

I directed my gaze at the item she had given me. It was slightly soft, which made me suppose that it might be food. I was left wondering whether I was supposed to unfold it right now. Her sophisticated statement just now didn’t clarify anything. 

“Umm... should I unwrap it now?” 

“It’s on you, I don’t mind.” 

Pinching at a small irregularity in the paper wrapping, I pulled it off, which I found quite satisfying, and before long, something white appeared before my eyes. They were grains of rice... which meant that I was right it was food, particularly a plain, quite larger than average rice ball. Why had she decided to give exactly this to me? 

Seeing that piece of food, I wondered whether it would be alright to eat it right now. Since that girl had been standing there without a single moment for a longer while now, and also she allowed me to unwrap it, I guessed that it wasn’t a bad idea. Hesitantly, I brought it to my mouth, but then, all of a sudden, the face of that girl turned away to look at the widely open entrance, and said in a low voice to me: 

“Wait. This place isn't safe anymore.” 

Having said that, she hurried towards the entrance, and slightly leaned her head outside. She looked in both directions, and then backed down inside, not turning around to me. 

“We have to hurry from here. I can feel them coming.” 

Utterly dazed by her actions, I could only understand that she told me to leave the classroom. I took reluctant steps towards her, to which she reacted by walking out of the room and standing by. After I crossed through the doorframe, she said to me: 

“Close the door carefully. We mustn’t leave a trace of us here.” 

Still confused, I slid the door shut as she told me to. That girl immediately fled in a dash, her bag rubbing against her hip as she ran, only stopping by the staircase. Trying to catch up to her, I walked at a slightly faster pace than usual. Leaning against the handrail, she guardedly stared downstairs. 

“Umm... what’s going on?” I asked reluctantly, not even expecting a proper answer. Actually, I knew good that this was only one of her pretend games, but I decided to put up with that. 

She didn’t even bother to respond as she ran off downstairs. It unsettled me a little, since I had done it once and regretted it... but on the other hand, thanks to that I met that girl. This time though, if she fell, there wouldn’t be anyone to catch her. I followed suit, walking down the stairs carefully, but her figure regardless disappeared from my view. 

I wouldn’t be surprised if it would be it from our meeting. I hadn’t done anything like asking her a question, or exchanging contact info... but this time, I was going to give up completely on her. That girl was just peculiar to an extent that made it extremely difficult to talk to her, especially for such an apprehensive person like me. 

When I finally reached the second floor, I heard a voice that didn’t necessarily belong to that girl from downstairs. 

“Nakamura-san, what are you doing that late at school? You don’t attend a club, do you?” 

“No... I just forgot something in the classroom.” 

The responding person was definitely that girl. Judging by what the teacher had called her, her surname would be Nakamura. She hadn’t told me that before. Unlike her supposed first name, it was a fairly common one. I wonder, was there a reason she had concealed it from me? 

After I heard the steps of the teacher leaving, I proceeded to walk down the stairs to see that girl standing motionless in the middle of the hallway. 

“Na– Lumiya-san?" 

I almost accidentally used her last name I had just learned to call her. I decided to keep using the name she had told me before. 

What she had just told the teacher wasn’t true, because when I came here, she wasn’t in the classroom. To be honest, I was interested myself, but didn’t know if it would have been a good idea to ask her about it right now. 

“Umm...” as my feet reached the ground floor, she didn’t even flinch and kept standing in one place. 

“...” 

“Is something wrong...?” 

“Fufu, this attack wasn’t enough to scratch me!” 

About what attack was she talking about? Nevertheless, she steadily continued towards the shoe racks, where we changed our shoes as if nothing happened. Literally everything she was doing left me confused. Was that a way of covertly running away from me, or was that just another unique trait of hers? 

“Umm...” 

It was sweltering hot outside, although a light wind had appeared which eased the atmosphere a little. She silently exited the building through the front door and I followed suit. We were both in our school uniforms, but only she had a school bag with herself, because my sister had taken mine home in my stead. 

She proceeded forwards at a fast pace, and I quite couldn’t keep up with her. I walked aside to take my bike from the parking, and then caught up to her while leading it next to me. 

Was I even supposed to follow her? 

“Human, can I borrow this?” she said to me all of a sudden, pointing her finger at my bike. 

She wanted to borrow my bike? Well, I didn’t have anything against it, but I hoped that she wasn’t going to pull a fast one on me and dash off with it. 

“Sure...” I responded as I handed it to her. 

Without taking off her bag which might have been a grave mistake, she hopped onto it and began pedaling forwards. She looked quite funny on it, if I were to be honest, and kept swaying to boot. 

“Ooh!” I heard her making a delighted sound. Was it that she hadn’t ridden a bike for a longer while? Maybe she did have one where she transferred from and didn’t bring it here? 

Without notice, she started making the bike move so fast towards the entrance gate as if it were a plane about to take off. Her bright hair swayed in the air as she proceeded with a speed I probably wouldn’t have usually been able to achieve, but then... 

With an insane speed, she fell off the bike and hit the ground spectacularly. I was sure I had seen this scene earlier today... but that wasn’t time to think about it, as I had to quickly approach and help her. 

“Are you okay?” I shouted out as I ran towards her. I could see her body flinching as if nothing had happened, but that didn’t ease me in the slightest. 

Having finally reached her, I held out my hand in order to help her stand up, to which she initially reacted by outstretching one of her hands as well, but she promptly drew it back. Her pure white uniform was now stained by dirt, but she didn’t flick it off. 

“Kaka, don’t underestimate me, human”, she said as she got up a lot swifter than my sister did with a smirk on her face. 

Even though a very similar situation had happened earlier today, I didn’t even think about offering her to ride on my back. It would be too embarrassing. 

I could guess that what caused her to topple was her obstructed depth perception combined with that heavy bag hung on her shoulder that had effectively thrown her off balance. 

“Maybe you should... take that eyepatch off?” I suggested, to which she immediately reacted by gradually raising her hand to cover it. 

“Tch tch, there is a reason it has to be concealed. Should I show you its tremendous power, it would immediately intrude into your very existence making you beg for forgiveness as it drains your soul and you slowly and painfully turn into grains of rice.” 

There was something off with that explanation. Why rice? For some reason, I tried to imagine that scene. Her left eye directed at me let out a light equal to the sun, and my body was completely sucked into it before it left a bowl of rice on the ground. Ridiculous. 

Either way, it most likely meant that eyepatch was but a part of her everlasting affectation. 

“I see... Then you just shouldn’t ride anything.” 

“Kaka, shall I prove it to you?” she asked before she proceeded to bring the bike up. 

“No, no, you’d better not!” I tried to stop her. 

As I bent down with the purpose of picking up the collapsed bicycle, I inadvertently caught a glimpse of her lower body. That’s right, a girl was standing right next to me, but I somehow forgot about it. No... it wasn’t that she was a girl, but that she was a person. How long had it been since I last left school with someone else? I always walked home alone and didn’t see anything wrong with it... but on the other hand, it would have been better if I had someone to talk to... 

I hadn’t seen that particular girl that was standing calmly next to me for a whole month, and even though we had hardly talked to each other, I missed her a little... but now, that she was finally back, I couldn’t do anything. In my mind, I held numerous successful conversations with her, but I wasn’t able to make them real. What was I afraid of? There was nobody in visible distance to disturb us. 

As a person, she was strange, but intriguing. She hid her left eye without any reason whatsoever, called me a human as if she wasn’t one, and stayed till late at school. Looking up at her fragile figure, clad in a short-sleeved pure white uniform, she seemed kind of... cute. 

What she was thinking about right now? What were her feelings behind that holier-than-thou facade? How did she view me? 

Once I picked up the bike, I started walking forwards and she followed. I kept moving steadily to finally reach that intersection and part ways with her, because I just felt too embarrassed to have her next to me any longer. 

“...” 

Perhaps it was my destiny to spend days tediously and in solitude. When something went not in accordance with routine, my body started to tell me to immediately stop it and run away... that was also happening right now. 

I picked up my pace. Before long, we passed through the entrance gate, and the intersection could be seen in a fair distance. There was an alley of fully blossomed trees surrounding a slightly downhill street. 

Argh... it was so annoying... there was a chance walking right next to me, and I was such an idiot for not taking advantage of it. I had to pull myself together...