The new week arrived.

I got ready for school and left the house. In front of my door, waiting for me, was Yuto-kun.

"Good morning!" he exclaimed enthusiastically.

"G-good morning," I replied with a sleepy and annoyed air.

I gave him a quick look. He was wearing the same school uniform as me, except instead of a skirt, he wore pants. The uniform confirmed that it was all true. Yuto-kun would be attending my same school.

"Why were you standing in front of my door?"

"Well, since we practically live next door to each other, I thought we could go to school together."

"Then let's get one thing straight. We're not such good friends that we go to school together, nor do I have any intention of changing my habits just because I now have a neighbor my age."

That was only part of the real reason.

If at school they saw me arriving with someone and word spread, I would attract more attention to myself, and honestly, that was the last thing I wanted. And if they saw me with a boy, everyone would think there was some kind of relationship with this person, and I didn't want him to be targeted just for spending some time with me. Also, I was afraid that if we became friends, he too would turn his back on me to avoid being targeted, as had happened in middle school. I didn't want to drag him down with me, and keeping our distance was convenient for both of us.

Even if we weren't friends, I didn't want him to receive the same treatment as me.

"And besides, I don't want others to find out that we know each other," I told him with a serious look.

His expression suddenly changed, and he asked me:

"Why?" His expression changed and became suddenly serious. It was the same expression he had in the hospital when he asked me why I tried to kill myself. It gave me the impression that he knew that the real reason for my request wasn't due to a whim, but to more serious reasons.

"Why are you looking at me with that expression?" I asked, intimidated.

"Nothing. Anyway, fine, if you don't want us to go to school together, that's okay. As for knowing each other, I'll do as you say."

"Okay, thank you. I really appreciate it."

So he walked ahead first, and I waited a few minutes before following him, to have some distance.

After arriving in class and settling at my desk, the bell rang. Shortly after, the teacher entered the classroom.

"Good morning, everyone."

"Good morning," we replied as we stood up.

"Sit down. I have an announcement to make. Today you'll have a new classmate, so make sure you get along with him."

Oh no!

I thought automatically as my mind started wandering with imagination. I feared that Yuto-kun had been placed in my same class.

Worried, I could hear the whispers among the desks. They too were fantasizing about what kind of person he might be. The boys desperately hoped it was a pretty girl, since the girls in their class didn't pay them any attention.

I took a deep breath. Even if in those days the coincidences had been more than I imagined, there were many sections in the school, and it was still very unlikely that something like this would happen. Even if it wasn't completely impossible...

"Come in," he said, turning toward the door. The person in question positioned himself in front of us.

"Hello everyone... I'm Nakagawa Yuto. I hope we'll get along."

I couldn't believe it. It was really him.

Our eyes met for an instant before I immediately looked away. On one hand, I was very confused, but on the other, I didn't want others to notice any sign that might reveal we knew each other. I could hear the boys' disappointment upon learning that the newcomer wasn't a girl, and the girls talking among themselves saying he was cute. I just hoped he wouldn't come near me to talk or greet me.

Sure, we had talked about it before, but in the previous days I had also understood what kind of person he was: one of those who don't think about the consequences of their actions or what people say. So I wouldn't have been surprised if he stepped forward doing things his own way.

"Alright, you can sit back there," the teacher said, pointing to the only empty desk at the back of the classroom.

"Okay," he said, and as he headed to his seat, he passed by me. I kept staring at my desk with my head down, pretending nothing was happening and hoping he wouldn't greet me. He sat down at his desk without saying anything.

He had done what I asked.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

When lunch break came, while I was grabbing my things to go eat in my usual spot, the whole class gathered around Yuto-kun to get to know him and make friends.

I reached the usual pile of cardboard boxes hiding the entrance to the rooftop, moved them, and went through the window. As usual, I sat in the shade and started thinking about how lucky I had been earlier. Maybe I had judged Yuto-kun too quickly; this time he had obeyed my requests despite me being convinced he wouldn't care.

"*Tsk.*"

At some point, I heard a noise coming from the window. Maybe someone was coming to the rooftop. Once you go out, it's not possible to reposition the boxes in the exact position to cover the window, so it was likely that someone passing by had seen the open window. I crawled silently toward the corner to see who it was. I got even closer to peek and bumped my head against someone's legs.

"Oww!" said the intruder. I looked up.

"Yuto-kun!? What are you doing here?"

"I followed you."

"Huh?"

"When you left the classroom, I followed you because you rushed off with your things," he said, smiling.

"Will you please leave me alone? Why did you come here?"

"What a question. Want to have lunch together?" He sat down next to me and started eating his lunch.

"Why are you here?"

"I told you."

"That's not what I meant. Why didn't you stay in the classroom with the others? They were all around you."

"Yeah, but that was just the excitement of the moment for the new arrival. I have time to get to know them. Right now, I'd rather have lunch with you. Hey, do the others know about this place?"

"No. It was by chance. Once, while I was eating near the boxes, I bumped into them and discovered the window. From that day on, I started having lunch here. Evidently, they use the boxes to cover the broken window, otherwise everyone would come here. Usually when I finish and go back to the classroom, I'm always careful to put them back properly to hide it."

"I see, then I won't tell anyone. It'll be our secret." For a while, we remained in silence, continuing to eat, until Yuto-kun's attention was caught by a bird flying.

"How nice, it can go wherever it wants," he whispered.

I stared at him for a moment. He had a melancholic look, almost as if he was tired of something, as if he wanted to go far away and never come back, as if he too carried a burden.

He reminded me a bit of myself.

"What is it? Why are you staring at me? Do I have something on my face?" he asked curiously after noticing I was watching him.

"N-no, nothing," I stammered. I was sure I was blushing. I certainly couldn't tell him that I was staring because something in his gaze reminded me of myself. That would have been strange and embarrassing.

"Ah, before I forget, take this." He pulled a phone out of his pocket. "My sister gave it to me. It's not brand new, but not old either. She wanted to give it to you, also to apologize for the incident at the store, even though I didn't do anything wrong."

"What did you say!?" I asked, even though I had heard perfectly.

"I didn't say anything."

I took the phone and thanked him. When I tried to turn it on, I noticed something.

"It's already configured with my name," I said.

"Yes, because I did something very important. I saved my contact. I did it myself, in case you didn't want to save it," he said with a slight air of superiority.

"I could delete it too."

"Well, that's up to you to decide. I hope you'll text me so I can save yours too."

"I doubt that will happen," I said with an indifferent air.

After lunch, the day passed quickly without any hiccups. No one tormented me, maybe because they were all obsessed with the new arrival.

That same evening, after taking a bath and lying down on the bed, I picked up my phone and went to the contacts.

I still hadn't saved the contacts from my previous phone, not that I had many anyway. I started looking at the only contact saved at the moment—Yuto-kun's.

Having never really interacted with my peers, I still couldn't figure out whether I could consider him a possible friend or not, but it made me happy to have the contact of a classmate. Even if it was a rather trivial thing, I was glad to have experienced something typical of kids my age.

He had given me his contact, but I hadn't given him mine; the situation didn't seem very fair on my part. I had to say that today he had been particularly thoughtful regarding my request to pretend we didn't know each other, so...

-From Yuto-kun-

"*Beep*"

While I was about to go to sleep, I heard the sound of a notification from my phone. I picked it up to check who it was and noticed it was from an unknown person. Even though I hadn't saved the contact, just reading the content of the message was enough to understand who had sent it:

-It's just out of courtesy.-

Once I read the message, a smile of contentment naturally came to my face. I fell asleep feeling lighter.

About a month had passed since Yuto-kun and I started sharing the school rooftop during lunch break.

Every time we talked about this and that, about things we liked or that bothered us, and about our hobbies. It wasn't me who started the conversation, but he who punctually at lunchtime came to me on the rooftop and started talking.

Unexpectedly, though, I had started to enjoy it. We also started lending each other books. We had the same taste, so it was easy to understand what the other liked. In the end, he also gave me that book he had promised to make up for entering my room without permission. I was certain I didn't want to have any relationship with him, but in those small moments, I liked being able to savor the sweetness of a normal adolescence. Given my inexperience, I still hadn't understood whether I could consider Yuto-kun a friend and, consequently, whether I could open up a bit more with him.

I was still afraid of reliving the same experience I had in the past.

But later, something happened that changed this thinking. One day, right after that dream month, while I was getting ready to go to the rooftop, I noticed that someone, without me realizing it, had taken my backpack. I looked for it all over the classroom but found nothing, so I decided to check outside. Almost opposite the classroom door, there was a window overlooking the back garden.

On the window, a piece of paper was attached with a message.

-Look down.-

I leaned out and saw my backpack on the ground in the garden. I immediately ran to get it.

When I got there, I picked up everything that had fallen out of the backpack. The books were intact, but my lunch had spilled all over the ground.

I immediately ran toward the rooftop, the only place where I could feel calmer. I had reached the east wing of the building, near the staircase that would take me to the top, but in my haste, I bumped into a boy, making him drop his lunch from his hands.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Hey, Maeda-san, right? How do you plan to make up for this disaster?"

"I... I said I'm sorry. I didn't do... do it on purpose."

"You could buy me lunch to make up for it?"

"Well, I... I can't."

That boy's only goal was to intimidate me. It was clear that he wasn't really angry about the lunch; he just wanted to scare me for fun. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't solve the problem by giving him my lunch. I tried to apologize, but he wouldn't listen to reason.

At that moment, a hand touched the boy's shoulder.

"She apologized. Why don't you stop?"

"Ah, and who are you? What do you want? It's none of your business."

"She's my friend, and it is my business. It was just an accident. Don't you think getting this angry is a bit excessive? It was just lunch."

I was stunned to hear his words. No one had ever called me a friend before.

"I told you, it's none of your business. Leave me alone," he said, shaking off Yuto-kun's hand. "And what are you complaining about? We're talking about Maeda-san," he said in a joking tone.

"And this... this WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN."

In a fit of rage, he threw a punch at the boy's face, who, due to his speed, didn't have time to dodge it and fell to the ground with a bloody nose. With that gesture, Yuto-kun had crossed the point of no return. Although he had done it to defend me, and although I had felt happy for a moment, I couldn't help but think about the consequences that gesture would have on him. He was a boy who had just moved and hadn't made friends with anyone yet, and with that gesture, he would be marginalized like me just for defending me.

The boy got up from the ground and quickly grabbed Yuto-kun by the waist, pushing him to the ground with his back on the floor. He got on top of him, and Yuto-kun took a punch straight to the face. He took a few hits, but he managed to block the last one and, rolling on the floor, managed to reverse their positions and push the boy onto his back on the ground. Just as Yuto-kun was about to hit him, one of the teachers passing by saw them and rushed over to stop them.

"That's enough, stop!" the teacher exclaimed as he forcefully separated them. "Everyone go to class, and you two go to the infirmary. As soon as classes are over, I want to see both of you in the teachers' office to talk about what happened. Now go."

At the end of the day, the two went to the teachers' office as the teacher had said.

While I was waiting for Yuto-kun near the school gate, I started browsing the internet on my phone. Among the recommended news, I found one that intrigued me a lot: in a few days, the new movie adaptation of a light novel series I was very passionate about would be released.