A scene that I already knew appeared before my eyes. Engulfing my body was pleasant wind coming from the wide open windows on my left, easing the incessant heat off. That scene was somewhat distressing and made me feel as though I had been guilty of something, but I knew well that it was merely my mind playing tricks on me. Each of my senses confirmed that I had been the only person in vicinity. 

I was only a little bit afraid of something that was going to happen in a while. Staring at a clock hung on the wall, anxiety had been filling me increasingly with every tick it made. 

In the place I knew well, in circumstances that already weren’t unfamiliar to me, I kept waiting for the longer hand of the clock to reach a certain point. Since the windows were open, I quite couldn’t hear the sound it’d been making because the noise of people chattering and a ball bouncing against the ground of the outdoors basketball court effectively covered it up. 

I should have long left that room and possibly reached home and changed into my casual clothes – yet I still hadn’t left the building, my body was coated in the sweaty uniform, because of the heat as well as cold sweat caused by the nervousness. 

“...” 

I cautiously kept staring at the clock, preventing myself from drifting away in deep thought. If someone had been watching me like that, I probably seemed like I was lost in thought – it wouldn’t be completely wrong. 

Tentatively, I pushed my chair back, lifted my bag up and stood up having hung it on my shoulder. The reason for that was the signal I had been waiting for finally went off – it’d been fourteen minutes since the regular school activities ended. I gave myself an additional minute to reach our meeting place. Why had I been that precise? Aside from that I had a hunch that she would like it, it was mostly because of my anxiety. I was worried that if I came one minute earlier or later, there would be some kind of punishment awaiting me. I knew that it wasn’t right – that girl wouldn’t scold me for being slightly late. 

Either way, I sluggishly made my way to the front exit, and slid it behind myself as my both feet found themselves on the corridor. My destination, the rear entrance to her classroom, was in fact no more than five steps away. When I thought about it, if it weren’t for the wall, we would’ve been closer to each other than I was to Yamaguchi – and yet, she was a person whose existence hadn’t been known to me until recently, in spite of her distinctive features. 

As I set foot on the entrance, my hands reached for the handle of the door that I slid to the side without struggle. Immediately I noticed something I hadn’t been expecting, but come to think of it, I could have predicted it. The peculiar girl I had arranged to meet with, instead of lifelessly sitting at the desk next to the window, was standing just behind the door so we accidentally found ourselves staring at each other for a short moment. Even though I should have come here on time, she was prepared to leave without me? I hadn’t been wrong with her punctuality? Or was she doing it deliberately and didn’t expect it to turn out like that? 

Her thin figure stood sturdily in front of me, her bag that seemed to have more items inside than it had been necessary was hung on her left shoulder and leaned against her right hip. Similarly, her hands drooped almost lifelessly, only the right one was resting on the bag. There was also her long, blonde hair I had already gotten used to seeing, and an eyepatch on her left eye. Speaking of which, what was actually concealed under it? Was this eye of the same color as the other one, or perhaps it was different, either naturally or by use of a colored contact? That wouldn’t make much sense, why would she do that if she didn’t show it to anyone? Maybe she was actually ashamed of it being different and that was her reason for covering it? 

She seemed to be on her guard for it – whenever I mentioned it, she raised and pressed her hand against it, as if preventing it from being taken off. She was also doing it in other, irrelevant situations so I passed it off as a peculiar gesture of hers. I guess it held particular value to her, was it because it had been given to her by a precious person or it had accompanied her in some significant situation, I could only guess. 

On the peculiar girl’s face there wasn’t an expression that could be put into words. While it wasn’t completely empty, on the first glance it appeared as such. With thoughts like those filling my mind, I didn’t notice when she moved forward and stood in a close distance from me, likely prompting me to move aside. I did so immediately when I realized that. 

“We shall move on now. Stay on guard at all times, for we are not alone here.” 

Having said that, she proceeded to move out of the classroom and began walking down the hallway towards the staircase. A tad flabbergasted by the sudden turn of events that was only to be expected if I thought about it earlier, I stood in the doorframe staring at her figure gradually moving away. Everything about her was odd – including the way she walked. Her pace was abnormally quick, which made it resemble rather a march I did have some trouble keeping up with, but it was an issue of my own comfort. 

“I guess, haha.” 

I said to myself, ending with a silent and awkward short laughter, which couldn’t have been heard by her because she had already moved a fair distance away from me. My feet, somewhat assured, started walking in her direction. Apparently, she had stopped by the staircase and unlike last time, it was apparent that she did so in order to actually wait for me, since her eyes were facing me, gradually approaching her. 

The reason for our meeting today was a little bit inane, and I was sure that she was the only person that could have come up with it – it was in order to find a desolate place within the school grounds suitable for her “base”, which in other words was supposed to be a place where she could spend time alone at. That was what I thought – but I had to be wrong since she decided to tell me about it, which made it no longer be a place for only her. Since everything about her was strange, our relationship was as well. If she had been a person like anyone else and still somehow made friends with me, there was no way we would have needed such place. 

If I took a picture of her right now, standing politely next to the staircase with eyes directed at me approaching her, and showed it to someone who didn’t know anything about her, what would they think? From her appearance alone, the only strange feature of hers was the eyepatch. Putting it aside, she looked just like any other girl – no, if I were to be honest, she was a little bit more appealing than average. Only a little bit. 

When I finally made it to her, I slowed down and she averted her gaze. There wasn’t anyone in vicinity, but for sure we weren’t alone in that building. As for ideas for a desolated place, I’d rather look outside than inside, because otherwise I didn’t think there was a place that wasn’t either filthy or locked. What ideas did that girl have, though? I wouldn’t be surprised if I had overlooked something. 

The girl began walking down the stairs at a surprisingly casual pace. I followed suit after her and managed to turn a corner, but then she suddenly stopped. She didn’t say anything out loud, just showed me a gesture with her hand and covertly leaned her head out from behind the wall. From the way she looked in both directions, I guess she was confirming whether the floor had been empty. 

“Clear.” 

As she said, she proceeded walking further down the stairs towards the first floor, and I followed without even skimming through the floor – I was sure that there wasn’t any suitable place there. 

All of a sudden, she turned her head to glance at me over her shoulder – when our eyes nearly accidentally met, she retracted in embarrassment and I averted my eyes as well. Speaking of which, we were currently passing by the place we had first met at – where she saved me from falling down and she offered to me becoming something she called a servant. The funny thing was that I had been technically her servant right now. Obviously, I didn’t take it personally – I thought of it as just another peculiar quirk of hers. 

Suddenly, she stopped in a similar manner to before. This time though, she didn’t proceed to lean her head out, but stood there motionless without seeming to move anytime soon. Was she perhaps too timid to move out, or was she waiting for something in an odd way? 

“Err, Lumiya-san...” 

“...”, she mumbled questioningly as she turned her head sideways to the right, so I could just barely see her uncovered eye. 

I didn’t really know what to say at this point, but it seemed that she wasn’t necessarily embarrassed. Awkwardly, I asked her a question I could come up with off the top of my head. 

“Uhh... What should I do if a teacher catches us?” 

“Fufu, if I am to be honest with you, I haven’t prepared myself for such an occurrence well enough”, she responded calmly to me as she cast her head slightly down and closed her visible eye. 

If only one of us had been caught alone, it wasn’t much trouble speaking out of it, but with what excuse could we come up with in case we were caught together? 

“That’s why we have to keep our eyes out”, she continued as her head returned to the previous position. 

Either way, it was more a matter of embarrassment rather than something serious. Even if we had a plausible excuse, the mere fact of being seen meant defeat for us. 

Now that I think of it, if we found a suitable place outside, it would be usable only during summer. For autumn, she had the rooftop, but what about winter? The place had to be inside then for obvious reasons, but it seemed that such didn’t exist. There were only half measures like the library she would have to put up with... but she just wouldn’t worry about it up till winter, I guess. 

“Alright.” 

When I said that, she moved out and took her first step on the ground of the first floor. As she stopped there, I followed and looked around me. In general, it looked the same as the above floors except for the shoe racks, but there was also one, relatively huge difference that I had forgotten about for some reason – there was a roofed passage to the sports hall. 

“Uh, what about there?” I said as I pointed my finger in that direction, since she hadn’t noticed it as well for some reason. 

Of course, we could neither enter the gymnasium itself nor any of the assisting rooms, since some club activities had been ongoing at the moment. That said, I thought that there might be some blind spot I had overlooked earlier. 

“...”, she let out an audible murmur in an affirmative manner. Once I heard that signal, I strolled off in that direction at a casual pace, and she surprisingly followed me. Not minding that, I passed by numerous rooms that were regularly used as classrooms, so I didn’t pay attention to them. 

Before long, I set my foot on the passage which had windows on either side. Through them, I could see the mostly empty school yard with quite a lot trees on it, and the field that was currently occupied by a few people likely from some club. As for the hall in front of me, it was more like a full-fledged sports facility, with a set of changing rooms and others. Aside from the large hall that was used both for sport activities and school ceremonies, there were a few smaller gyms, for example one used for tennis. For some reason, when I entered it, I felt like I was leaving the school grounds – and for that reason, I didn’t find it as a suitable place for her “base”. 

That girl, surprisingly still following me, entered the building after me. Looking around, I could see numerous rooms and hear shouts and a bouncing ball from the hall. To be honest, I just didn’t feel comfortable inside. 

“I don’t think it’s a good place...” I said in a quiet tone, but she should have been able to hear that since she was standing just next to me. 

“I know. This place gives off an unpleasant feeling.” 

Too bad – I turned around and exited to the passage, to which she followed me as earlier. I noticed that she had a weird manner of keeping up with me – while she maintained an ordinary, rather close distance from me, she seemed to be walking at the exact same tempo like me. When I slowed down, she did as well. When I suddenly stopped, she stopped at the same moment. It was quite strange, but I wasn’t surprised since almost everything about her was strange. If anything, it was rather impressive. 

Walking down the hallway, we reached the shoe racks and changed our shoes casually. Having done that, we proceeded towards the exit and went through it – unlike ever before, it was me taking the lead this time. 

I thought that it was time for us to split up, but surprisingly, she didn’t say anything and followed precisely whenever and however I moved. It was just as if she’d been my familiar in a game. The funny thing was that, if anything, it was me who’d been her familiar. 

Flabbergasted, I walked around the school yard without further point, and she followed me. I decided to speak up to her. 

“Er, Lumiya-san... aren’t we supposed to... split up and search?” 

Those words finally threw her off her stride – she slowed down and stopped, and this time it was me who followed after her. Her head was directed down slightly, but I could see almost no expression on her face. 

“T-This certainly would be more effective, but...” her sentence started off with a small stutter, and she kept losing momentum as she continued. Her left hand also moved to cover her eyepatch. 

“Ah, I-I'm sorry”, seeing that I made her flustered, I decided to retract my words. Was she perhaps too embarrassed to say what she had on her mind? 

With that said, I looked around, confused and kind of discouraged to do anything. 

“Where do you think we should look into first?” 

In fact, our school grounds were relatively small and there were almost no effective and comfortable hideouts I knew about. In front of school, one could sit on the grass under a tree, but I guess that it wasn’t enough for her. Behind the main school building? It was clearly visible from the playing field. 

That was when I looked in the direction of the club building, and noticed a quite dense thicket. I recalled that there was actually small forest behind it, and couldn’t see a reason why it wouldn’t prove as a great hiding spot. The main disadvantage would be irregular ground, but small flat areas could be found. Besides, it wasn’t that much of an issue as long as one didn’t want to lie down. 

“What would you say about that?” I asked her as I pointed my finger in that direction. 

She turned her head and looked at the place I was aiming at with my finger. If I thought about it, it seemed like the place we’d been looking for. Even I, who didn't necessarily despise presence of a few people around, found that place appealing. Not only shouldn’t there be much people around, but also the branches of the trees would provide protection against heat, which was definitely helpful at this time of the year. The only disadvantage of that place I could find was that it was a little bit too far from school, which meant that the walk there would take a few minutes. 

“It’s been discovered by humans... no, actually I know of one human that knows this place”, she responded in a dejected tone. 

One human that knew this place? Did she mean that there was another lonely person using that place? Either way, this forest seemed large enough for at least ten people to hide in it with a lot of space between each other. 

“You mean that someone’s using it already?” 

“No... a human discovered that I’ve been using this place. I’d rather refrain from using it for the time being, for I’m not sure what are their intentions.” 

I quite couldn’t understand her reasoning, or I had misunderstood her completely. Why would this be an issue? It wasn’t like it’d been illegal to use it, and it wasn’t like she felt uncomfortable there because of being next to another person, so why? 

“You sure about that? I don’t think we can find anything better in here. One human shouldn’t be an issue... right?” 

“...”, she heaved a reluctant sigh, as though telling me I succeeded in making her rethink her decision. 

Her feet started moving forwards in the direction of the ticket, and I promptly tagged along after her. We walked down a trodden path just next to the club building, which was packed with people right now. That shouldn’t be an issue though, since during regular classes, when she was supposed to be using this place, it was mostly empty. Before long, we stepped into a thicket of tall grass that apparently hadn’t been mowed in a long time. While it wasn’t necessarily deep, it provided a pretty good hideout thanks to the aforementioned tall greenery. 

Covered by the leaves growing out of the numerous trees, the dazzling sun couldn’t reach us anymore and all I could feel was a light, pleasant breeze. Her long, blond hair was fluttering along with the wind ever so slightly. For some reason, I felt like lying down and taking a breather. This place just had a relaxing charm to it – even though it was just next to the busy basketball court and club building, if you closed your eyes, it really felt as if you had been in the middle of a forest. It was surprising for me that almost nobody had discovered this place yet. Even if it wasn’t perfect, I doubt that she could find a place better than that, even if she had to bear with a few humans around. 

“What do you think?” I asked her as I stood in the middle of a completely flat area. 

No matter how long I waited, she wouldn’t reply. Instead, with her back turned to me, she used her hand to rummage around in her brimful bag. After a moment, she pulled out something I couldn’t catch a glimpse of, and crouched down. Having fiddled with grass, she stood up again and turned over to me. 

“Fine.” 

And thus, a small forest on the school grounds became her “base”. Whatever she was going to do there, she was now freed of her loud classmates. Like I said before, this place appealed to me, but since she had taken it, not much could I do about that. I didn’t mind being in the classroom full of noisy people after all. 

“Alright”, I said as I turned around and started walking away from that place. Not many steps had I managed to take before she stopped me with an unexpected, firm voice: 

“Human.” 

Hearing that, I turned to face her again. Her figure was standing sturdily, motionless amidst green trees and bushes. On her right hip rested a brimful bag, what had been filling it, I didn’t know. The girl, named Lumiya, even though was a human herself, called me a “human” as if she wasn’t one – that was also the case this time. Before I knew it, she lowered her head slightly, and the expression on her face seemed uneasy. Similarly to before, she used one of her hands to fiddle about in her bag and brought out something from within it. I had seen a very similar scene before – in her hand, which she had held out, there was an item of a triangular shape. It looked exactly the same as last time, which made me sure that it was a rice ball. With her hand extended and eye looking down, she said to me in a low voice: 

“You may come by sometime.” 

Dumbfounded by her words, I hesitantly held out my hand it took the item from her. I murmured quietly, as though to thank her, but I wasn’t sure if she could properly hear it. 

I didn’t know how to respond, but it seemed that we got a little bit closer. We kind of had a meeting place now, and although I was sure it was going to take a few days before I would bring myself to come there, I was glad. 

How would our relationship turn out? I couldn’t wait to find out at that moment, to be honest. It was true that I was a boy, whereas she was a girl, but we both were a little bit different from everyone else. No, I think that saying that I was different to the same extent as she were was a plain heresy. Or at least incorrect. I was just a more introverted person, whereas she was a straight-up oddball. I actually knew nothing about what that girl really was. Was she introverted? Probably yes, since I had never seen her together with anyone, and she usually seemed timid when talking to me, but I somehow couldn’t be assured of it. I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out that I was the only person she had talked to at school, aside from teachers of course. 

She was different from anyone else, odd and eccentric. That being said, I might have been the person least different from her in that school. Maybe that was the reason for something like that happened, that she was standing in front of me, talking to me, offering to meet again when giving me a rice ball... 

After that, she asked me to leave her there and go home alone, and I did so, with a small grin of satisfaction on my face.