“We should head back to the classroom.”
“Yeah, with changing time factored in, we’d better.”
Fifth period is P.E., so we needed to move with some urgency. Today’s lesson was volleyball, apparently — a team game, which meant I was already depressed before it even started. Team sports and loner-ism are a brutal mismatch. Genuinely wishing for a medical exemption here.
“Ryouya. Nee-chan. See you later.”
“Mm. Let’s go.”
“Wait — you’re seriously going to walk back to class with me?”
“Of course.”
Reona had said it in the tone of someone stating the obvious.
“That’s a bad idea.”
“Why?”
“You know — other people, looking at us…”
“Doesn’t bother me, so I’m fine.”
The fact that Reona was fine didn’t make me fine — but when I tried to explain that, she just asked, “So you’d rather not be with me?” and on reflex I said no, I’d be fine with it. And now I was trapped.
Walking back into the classroom with Reona on my arm produced exactly the spectacle I’d feared, and my stomach was actively in pain. Needless to say.
I grabbed my gym uniform out of my backpack and headed for the changing room. Once I was changed, I hustled to the gymnasium. The P.E. teacher gets ugly if you’re not lined up before the warning bell — being late is not worth the hassle.
The lesson started after a bit. I did the warm-up stretches, then partnered up with whoever was left over for serve practice. The gym is co-ed — boys and girls share, split in half, and on the girls’ side they were running basketball drills.
“Hey, who do you think the cutest girl in class is?”
“Tsurugi-san, no contest.”
“Yeah, exactly.”
A couple of guys were having that conversation during serve practice. Apparently Reona is universally popular. Well, sure — looks like that, personality like that, of course she is.
Time flew by and the practice game started. I joined my assigned team. Bad at ball sports across the board, plus shorter than the average Japanese guy — I had no opportunity to look impressive. After a bit they subbed me out, and from the bench I had a good view of the girls’ basketball game.
Most of the girls who, like me, were small and not great at ball sports were just kind of going through the motions, but a handful were dead serious about it.
“Reona, take it in and shoot!”
“Got it. On me.”
Reona received the pass and slammed the ball into the net. She high-fived the others, looking thoroughly pleased with herself.
Yeah. Reona and I live in deeply different worlds. She owes me her life and all, but why she’s gone out of her way to engage with me as much as she has is genuinely a mystery.
I spent the rest of the game turning that question over and got nowhere. Pressing on it any further was clearly going to send me down a rabbit hole, so I stopped.
After P.E. nothing else of note happened — I sat through sixth and seventh periods, and finally school was out for the day. As of right now I was at my desk, head in my hands.
“I didn’t understand a single thing in class today. This is, genuinely, very bad.”
As expected — given that I’d been out for almost two weeks — class material had moved on significantly, and as a result the content was an absolute blur. Math and physics in particular were dire. As things stood now, a failing grade was guaranteed.
“Failing’s gonna be a nightmare to deal with…”
If you fail a test at our school, you get drafted into supplementary lessons during the long vacation. With the final exam approaching, I needed to act fast — and the situation was bleak.
If I were a normie I’d be calling in a friend, a girlfriend, or a kind upperclassman to pull me out of this. Sadly, I’m a loner.
“Reality really is brutal for loners, huh.”
A world more accommodating to loners would be lovely. As things stood, failing was a near-inevitability, and I might as well start mentally enrolling myself in supplementary lessons—
“Ryouya. You look like you’re working hard on something.”
“Whoa—!?”
I’d been fully inside my own head, and the unexpected voice startled me into yelping out loud.
”…That much surprise actually hurts my feelings a little.”
“Oh no, Riona’s upset. Bad Ryouya. Bad bad.”
“Sorry, sorry — I just didn’t expect anyone to talk to me, that’s all. …Wait, you two are still here?”
It had been almost half an hour since homeroom ended. The fact that Reona and Riona were still at school was unexpected.
“I was waiting because I wanted to walk home with you, Ryouya-kun.”
“You didn’t show up, so I came to get you.”
“Wait — you want to walk home with me too?!”
“Mm-hmm. And by the way, that’s the new normal going forward, so please.”
I’d already gone through a record-breaking number of life-firsts today — walking to school with two girls, a handmade lunch — and apparently the streak was continuing.
“You’re going to say no, I don’t want to, no matter what I say, aren’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Looks like you’re finally starting to get how we work, Ryouya-kun.”
After the past several days I’d already learned the hard way that Reona and Riona, when set on something, did not lose those arguments. Resistance was clearly futile.