Lunchtime started. A lot of my thoughts were occupied by what Nishi-chan said to me. Does that mean I’ll never speak to her again? I kept doom thinking and the cycle of negativity was in full scale. Factory efficiency was rising. I know that we’ll be apparently good, but that’s according to her words. Kazumi doesn’t care too much because she’s going to be in the same industry. Man.

The sun shone, still in full effect. Its rays encapsulate me in warmth. But, I’m feeling alone. Worst of all, my inside feels cold. My head has been aching a lot.

I could feel it. One side of my head felt uneven. As if someone was tipping scales with rocks.

She said she wanted to go to the same university with me, just not long ago. But, now Nishi’s agent is pushing her to do acting? Nishi-chan doesn’t need to do that. She needs a normal life!

I’m just projecting. After all, I lied to myself. I said to her that I’m not worth throwing a career, but I’d rather she still be a normal student. I just didn’t want to confront myself internally, that people seemingly tolerate me. Life changes. People change, even when they’re stagnant for years. Does that mean I could? If I couldn’t I would be the exception, and there’s nothing about me that is odd or different. As such, I can change.

But if I change, would I still be the same?

Red. Blue. Green.
The blue sky.
Yellow. Leaves. Grass.

Tree.

My head suddenly spun as if I was a child with a globe. By now, my head would have come off with all the torsion.

Man.

Sometimes it’s hard to grasp. I see myself sitting by the tree. Above and beyond.

Colour is funny. Do you know what colour really is? 380nm to 750nm of electromagnetic radiation.

Light is literally a wave.

So when I see it. It’s just that.

A clear depersonalization episode.

To live is to die. The cycle is complete.

But will it ever end?

As my thoughts started to jumble and disintegrate, I was greeted by a certain individual. Kenji. It had been a while. Never in my life have I been so thankful that he was there. Whether he knows it or not, he was the anchor to myself.

Not reality.

He stood there with a bento in his hand. I opened my palms towards him, trying to lie to myself that nothing happened. I was the ultimate con man to myself.

Well, I spoke.

“What’s up, Kenji? How’s the soccer team?”

“All good, how’s Minoru?” He responded to me, with a casual polite tone.

“He hasn’t appeared in the homeroom or class. He is here, so I assume he’s getting a telling-off by the principal. I feel bad for Minetaka-sensei.” I gave my honest thoughts.

Kenji, giving a rather normal smile, said “That’s to be expected. I’m a bit sad that the game ended like that, still. Minoru is one good player.”

Astute observation.

He continued. “He scored a hattrick and still had time to defend Osei-san, all in a few minutes. Scary, isn’t it?”

I had to finish eating my onigiri and chicken before I could speak. Luckily, they were rather small pieces so I just swallowed them. Take risks. Afterwards, I responded to his thoughts.

“It’s frightening and I don’t even play soccer.”

Similar to me, Kenji felt he had to speak, even if his food was just mush and mid-bite. Not the greatest idea, I’d say.

“Yeah… I guess. But we were unlucky with the first two if I’m being honest. His third goal was definitely something I hadn’t seen him do. It was cool, but that’s it.”

Whatever makes you sleep at night.

After a small back-and-forth over how we lost, we obviously had to discuss the elephant in the room. The fight.

I said “Kenji, you were right next to Osei-san. What actually happened?”

He gave a quick cough to clear his throat. I feel like it was going to be a long one.

“Murata-san called Osei-san a monkey. Yep. It really was that. He claims it was him calling an idiot, but Osei said surely he knows that’s racially charged. As always, hothead Minoru came in and told Murata-san to apologize.”

I think I can guess what happens next. I mean, I literally saw this part.

“He didn’t. Suddenly, Murata-san called him an idiot and pushed him to the floor. I think you saw it happen, but then Minoru gave him three or four body shots, and two days later, Minoru still isn’t back yet.”

As said, it’s probably because he’s getting told what to do in school and all those associated warnings. I probably need to let him know. I saw him in his school uniform just before lunch.

“Kenji, you know Minoru’s at school? I saw him with my homeroom teacher, Minetaka-sensei.”

Kenji, still eating his bento, just nodded his head. One big swallow later, he spoke.

“Oh really? Someone from your class said he wasn’t there.”

“That’s true, but he is in school.”

“Ahh…” Kenji said. We then moved towards a more lighthearted subject. Suddenly, in front of us was Nakamura-san, from his class.

A rather meek girl, but she did have a short temper. It’s infamous, actually in our year. I wonder what business she has with Kenji?

“Honzo-san. Minetaka-sensei called me to let you know to visit him in the office. Now, actually.” She said rather directly.

“Okay,” I responded in a similar direct fashion. Quickly, I said my goodbyes to Kenji.

“See you around, Honzo.”

“You too.”

Can’t believe Nakamura-san went through all the school, just to find me. It hadn’t even been halfway into our lunch break? She must’ve gotten lucky.

“How did you find me, Nakamura-san?”

“You and Kenji sat there last week. So I just went with my gut feeling.”

Good intuition.

“Is this the first time we’ve spoken since middle school?” I raised a good question to her.

Nakamura responded. “I think so. How’s your start to the second year?”

“Not bad. It’s strange that everything went as usual. As if the school never stopped. What about you, Kaede?”

“Wow, I haven’t heard you call me Kaede in a while. Yeah, my second year is fine. Honestly, I just stick to Kenji and a few people from our middle school. I only have like two new friends.”

Nakamura has a cool personality. A chill character. But, I’m wondering when I’m going to mess up and accidentally release the inner beast inside her. Kazumi’s bad when you play games with her, but you will completely forget all about that in just thirty seconds with an angry Kaede.

Also, I’m not surprised to hear she doesn’t really make friends. She was like that in middle school. Both of us were similar, like peas in a pod. But, of course, people of our type are only friends to make company at the time. Situational friends. It’s not like both of us kept it up.

Wait, if she saw us, I hope she wasn’t close enough to hear the jokes from Kenji about her. It can be... a bit strange to hear jokes like that from him, but not all too surprising due to his personality.

Anyway, I’m just getting entertained by my boring thoughts. It’s furnace level hot, well really 23°C, and I don’t like making small talk. I’ll have to still continue, we’re only just navigating the science maze now.

I mean, Block A.

I spoke, once the aircon hit us, questioning “Why did Minetaka-sensei call you?”

“He asked ‘Do you know who Honzo is?’ I said yes, and he said ‘Could you find me and tell him to get here for a quick meeting?’ And I’m here now.”

I put my hands on my chin. Hmm. I even had to think that out. I’m doing it again!

Hmm…

What does he want from me? I suppose something to do about the Friday meetings. That’s it, I don’t know what he could say.

Both of us stood in front of the door. Has it always been this imposing?

“See you then,” Nakamura said.

“You too.” Am I going to see Nakamura again, though?

I opened the door.