📘 2007: A Girl with No Tomorrow

✦ Chapter 19: Another Normal Day

> _“I win medals, survive street wars, and carry strangers to hospitals.

But here, in this hallway…

I’m still the girl no one wants to sit beside.”_

— Aki Hoshino

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The bell rang at 8:00 a.m.

Aki entered the classroom like she always did — last. Head down. Steps light. Bag clutched close.

The moment she walked in, she felt the stares.

Not curiosity. Not admiration.

Contempt. Envy. Cruel boredom.

A girl near the window whispered something. A group giggled.

Aki didn’t look up.

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In math class, her desk had been moved again — pushed just slightly away from the others. Not far enough to notice at first glance. Just enough to say: “You don’t belong here.”

She pulled her chair in. Opened her book.

A spitball hit her collar.

She didn’t flinch.

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During lunch, she ate on the rooftop.

Alone.

She unwrapped two rice balls she’d made herself. No flavor. No side dishes.

Just plain food. Quiet sky.

And the same sentence rolling in her head:

> “If I vanished, would anyone here even remember I was in this class?”

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After PE, her gym shoes were missing again.

She found them two floors down, soaking in the janitor’s mop bucket.

Someone had written on them in marker:

“Gold medal freak.”

She didn’t react.

Just rinsed them off in the sink.

Wore them wet.

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Later, as she passed by the third-year hallway, she caught the sound of her name.

“Did you see her face in the paper?”

“Yeah, like winning makes her less pathetic.”

“She’s still a freak. I bet her parents pay judges.”

She kept walking.

Eyes forward.

Heartbeat steady.

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The day ended. Final bell rang. Students filed out laughing, gossiping, planning karaoke and sweets shops.

Aki remained at her desk for a few extra minutes. Let the noise die down.

When she finally stood, she stepped on a gum wrapper someone had left under her seat.

She didn’t react.

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Outside the gate, Rei wasn’t there today.

Just the wind. Just the leaves.

She didn’t text him.

Didn’t want to bother him.

She walked home with heavy feet, the sun dipping behind the power lines.

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That night, she opened her notebook slower than usual.

> Date: November 2, 2007

They didn’t do anything new today.

No punches. No rumors. No cruel inventions.

Just the same old background noise of “you’re not one of us.”

Sometimes I think invisibility would hurt less than being noticed the way they notice me.

But maybe tomorrow will be different.

Or maybe not.

I’ll walk through it anyway. That’s what I do.

She closed the notebook.

Didn’t cry.

Didn’t sigh.

Just set her alarm for another normal day.

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End of Chapter 19

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