It was another seemingly normal morning when I walked into the classroom.

Unlike the previous day, only Fujiharu-san was seated.

I guess she's still committed to arriving earlier than me.

"Hey, Mizuhara-kun!"

"Hi, Fujiharu-san."

As I took my seat beside her, I noticed that something appeared to be bothering her. She was obviously restless for one reason or another. 

"Are you alright?" I asked.

All of a sudden, she looked at me with an awkward grin.

Huh?

"Did you do your homework last night... Ayato-kun?"

Oh, she's using my first name now.

As I looked at her, it seemed her face was starting to turn red.

"Yeah, I finished last night's homework."

As soon as she heard my response, all the embarrassment disappeared from her face. Instead, she stuck her hand into her bag. After a little bit of ruffling, she pulled out something that looked like tickets.

"Um, do you want to go to the aquarium with me?" She asked.

"Sure."

She responded with a bright beaming smile.

All of this was pretty stock standard now but for some reason, I couldn't help but feel as if those tickets appeared suspicious—in a different way than usual.

There was a specific reason why I wanted to go with her.

*

After school, I made my way straight back toward my dorm since I didn't have anything on. As I walked back, I couldn't help but think about how busy my life has become. 

Eventually, I unlocked the door to my dorm and took a seat on my bed. The springs squeaked a little bit as I sat on my mattress—I guess the bed was getting a little bit old. I wondered why the man took my copy of The Tachibana System yesterday. 

There was only one reason I could think of.

A few minutes later, I heard a knock on my door.

I walked over and opened the door, it seemed to have come as a shock to the person on the other side.

"Ah, M-mizuhara-kun..."

"Oh, you're here already?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, come in then."

Kinoshita-san was already coming over. I had expected her to come a little later but it didn't really matter to me, I didn't have anything I needed to do today. Kanako-san had some sort of school excursion so she wasn't going to be home which meant that I would get a short break from tutoring her.

We had left the Monopoly set in my room overnight so I took it off of my cupboard and placed it on the ground. I set up the position we were at last night from memory and passed the dice to her.

"It was your turn," I said.

"How did you remember where everything was?" 

"I took a photo of it last night."

"Ah, I must have been too sleepy, I hardly even remember what happened."

We played from where we left off the previous night and slowly, she was getting the lead and bringing the game closer to an end.

I looked over at Kinoshita-san who seemed to be searching something up on her phone.

"U-um... Mizuhara-kun, what's the best gift you've ever been given?" 

It was an odd question—I wasn't expecting it at all. I had a sneaking suspicion that she may have been searching up conversation starters on her phone.

Now that I thought about it, I haven't really received many gifts. In fact, I think the only gift I've ever really gotten was from Tachibana Kohei. It would've been a bit awkward if I answered too honestly, I decided to just make something up.

"Uh, I guess it would be my phone."

I technically purchased my phone myself but it didn't really matter.

"Ah, that's cool, who gave it to you?"

"Um, my mother did."

"That's nice~"

We continued to play in silence for a little while before Kinoshita-san decided to speak to me again.

"Mizuhara-kun, do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"I have a sister."

"Ooh! How old is she?"

"Um, she's turning 18 this year."

At least, that's what I assumed she was.

"Oh, does she also go to this school?"

"No."

"Which school does she go to?"

I honestly had no idea.

I didn't really want to talk about this anymore, it was going to be rather awkward if I had to explain my entire family situation to her.

"Some other school."

"Ah."

"Anyways, are you going to buy the property?" I asked.

She quickly looked down at the board and thought for a little.

"I think I'll get it."

"Alright."

She handed the dice back over to me and I rolled them onto the board.

Slowly but surely, the game was coming to a close. I had basically run out of money and she basically owned the entire board. I was practically destined to lose in the next few moves, at most, I might be able to survive landing on her properties once or twice.

I was getting a little bored with the game anyway.

After I lost the last few hundred dollars I had, the game officially finished.

"That was fun!" She announced.

"Yeah."

I cleared the board and began packing everything back into the box. I organised them a little so the inside of the box wouldn't be too messy.

"Well, I need to buy some groceries now."

"U-um, I'll come with you!"

"It's fine, the supermarket's pretty far away, you don't have to come."

"I insist!"

"Well, if you want to then alright."

I didn't really care that much either way. The two of us were still in our school uniform but I didn't really have an opportunity to get changed. I decided to just put on my shoes and make my way outside. The supermarket was around a twenty-minute walk from the dorms, I walked through the schoolyard, eventually leaving the school premises.

Kinoshita-san walked beside me as we made the journey to the supermarket. I had several things I wanted to buy including shampoo and some ingredients for lunch the next day. I had just run out of bread and fruit. 

We eventually arrived at the supermarket and I purchased everything I needed.

Kinoshita-san bought some snacks before following behind me.

"By the way, Kinoshita-san, who's your roommate?"

"Oh, she's Nishimura Yui from the year above us."

"Ah, so you're roommate's an upperclassman?"

"Yeah."

I hadn't heard of the Nishimura Yui before.

After a little while, we arrived back at the dorms and Kinoshita-san decided to return to her room.

"Bye Mizuhara-kun~"

"Bye."

I made my way back into my own room, finally being able to get some peace and quiet. I pulled out Being and Nothingness, which I still hadn't finished and began reading through the last few pages.

For some reason, Fujiharu's invitation to the aquarium seemed a little odd, it didn't have its usual feel to it.