After the accident the day before, my mother decided to drive me to work.

“Don’t worry, we left early on purpose; by the way, wouldn’t you have preferred to stay home?”

“W-well, you know…”

Her question caught me off guard; my face still hurt, but I wanted to see Akari.

“A love of learning, I suppose…”

I looked away as I said it—she wouldn’t have believed me. 

“A love of learning, huh?”

She repeated, her expression saying only one thing: what a liar.

We arrived shortly after.

“Mom, see you later.”

I got out of the car, closing the door behind me.

“Try not to get into any more trouble, okay?”

“Yeah, I hope so…”

She waved goodbye, then drove off. 

She works a lot of overtime; I should find a part-time job.

I’d been thinking about it for a while; I kept mulling it over until the very last minute, then I ran into Shiori. 

“There she is!”

I walked over to her. 

“Good morning, Shiori.”

“Oh… it’s you.”

She didn’t even turn to look me in the face. 

Always the same.

“I didn’t think I’d see you today.”

She remarked.

“But here I am—I’m fine, it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“You think so…?”

She curled her fingers, then hit me 

on the head; I held back my tears.

“Yeah, you’re really fine.”

I kept walking.

“You’re cruel! Was that really necessary?!”

I rubbed the spot where she’d hit me. 

“Weren’t you the one who said you were fine?”

She taunted me—she wasn’t entirely wrong. 

“And anyway, can you tell me why you keep following me?”

She continued. 

“Listen, Shiori.”

I grew more serious; she sensed the change in my tone too, stopped, and turned around.

“I was thinking about yesterday, about what happened with those guys…”

I knew it wasn’t any of my business, but I brought it up anyway. 

“Before you ended up in that situation, Akari asked me about you…”

For just a second, she seemed a little less composed. 

“Don’t you spend recess with her? …Doesn’t she just hang out by herself?”

The atmosphere grew heavier—or maybe it was just my imagination.

“Some things aren’t any of your business.”

She shot me a dirty look. 

“Do you feel sorry for me or something?”

I’d given her the wrong impression.

“What!? No, no!”

“It’s just that you and Akari are such good friends—I know you told her what happened…”

“So what?”

She cut me off. 

“I’m just saying I understand—you don’t want to be around those fake friends.”

She seemed to relax a little. 

“But you shouldn’t be alone… would you like to hang out with me and Haru?”

I smiled at her; she seemed taken aback by my suggestion. 

“Forget it.”

“What!?”

“I don’t need to join any group, let alone yours.”

She walked away, leaving me speechless.

I stood there frozen for several minutes; when I came to my senses, I headed toward the classroom.

Come on, why did she react like that? I didn’t say anything bad to her...

As usual, I mulled it over. 

“You seem more down than usual.”

“Haru, it’s you.”

He was waiting for me in the hallway. 

“What’s wrong with you? That’s such a sad greeting.”

He came closer.

“Is everything okay?”

I sighed and told his everything; I wanted to hear his opinion. 

“I see… Well, I would’ve liked to have her with us, too.”

He commented.

“Maybe she thought I was pitying her—nobody likes to be pitied.”

His reasoning, combined with her expressions, made me start to doubt myself. 

“Maybe… You’re not entirely wrong.”

I felt even worse.

“Don’t sink any deeper into despair!”

“Come on, let’s go to class—it’ll take your mind off things a bit.”

He dragged me inside, and we stopped as soon as we walked in. 

“Why did you stop?”

I asked him. 

“S-sorry, can we talk to Sora?”

I heard two female voices; when I looked up, I recognized them immediately. 

“But you two are the girls from the other day!”

I pointed at them in surprise. 

“Y-yes, well, we wanted to…”

They were very uncomfortable: freshmen in a class full of older boys—I could understand why.

“We wanted to thank you for yesterday, and then…”

They plucked up their courage. 

“Can we take a picture together?”

They asked; I looked at them, confused, while Haru chuckled behind us. 

“Yeah, sure.”

I scratched my head. 

“I’ll take it for you.”

Haruto offered; as soon as the picture was taken, they looked happy, and they waved goodbye to me again before leaving. 

“Well, you’ve got some fans,”

he teased me; strangely, I sensed an intense gaze on me. 

I turned around and saw Akari watching me from a distance; she didn’t look very happy, so I tried to let it go.

Class started as usual, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Shiori. 

What if she reacted that way… just because she thought I felt sorry for her?

I fiddled with my pencil. 

I’ve decided—I’ll try again.

I waited anxiously for the bell to ring, and it finally did.

“Come on, Sora—”

I didn’t give Haru a chance to finish his sentence.

“Sorry! I have to run—see you later!”

“If all goes well.”

I whispered. 

I had a general idea of where Shiori’s classroom was; I only got lost three times. 

“Found it.”

I approached the entrance; there were still a few girls in the classroom; Shiori was alone by the window. 

“Shiori!”

Everyone turned around. 

“You! What are you doing here?!”

She blushed. 

“I want… you to spend recess with me!”

Shiori’s head started to spin, and her classmates’ eyes widened.

I walked over to her desk. 

“Come on, I’m not that bad—you’ll have fun.”

My plan was to embarrass her a little, just enough to make her give in, but it didn’t quite work out that way. 

“Shut up!”

She slapped me, right where I’d been punched the day before. 

I fell to the ground, confused.

“Sora, I’m sorry!” 

I don’t remember how it happened, but Shiori walked me outside and we sat down on a bench. 

“You’re an idiot—did you really think making me uncomfortable would work?”

The pain subsided. 

“Actually, yes, but I hadn’t taken your difficult personality into account.”

“What do you mean, ‘my difficult personality’!?”

I laughed at her reaction. 

“Just look at yourself.”

She seemed serious.

“Listen, Shiori...”

I looked up at the clouds. 

“First of all, I don’t want you to think I felt sorry for you: you’re a good person, and Haru and I would love to have you with us.”

“Thanks... But I’ve gotten used to it by now...”

She seemed to be speaking from the heart. 

“I don’t know if Akari knows about her friends… She’s always tried to get me to hang out with them; she didn’t want to see me alone…”

“But I can’t hang out with them.”

I thought carefully about what to say to her. 

“Shiori… I don’t think loneliness lasts forever…”