It's the start of a new day, except this day isn't like the rest. Usually I would wake up and mindlessly fall into the same routine. But today is different. My minds sole focus isn't on that routine anymore. This is the first day I have woken up with my mind feeling this sharp.

Unfortunately I'm still going to have to follow the routine for now.

Being aware of it doesn’t mean ignoring it. I would still get in trouble as before if I were to not make my parents their breakfast. While I’m at home, I still need to act as normal. It’s only when I’m out of the house where I’ll be able to do things out of the usual.

Which is exactly what I do when I make my parents their breakfast. No talking or looking them in the eyes. The only thing I’m doing different is paying more attention to things. Nothing of which strikes me as weird yet.

Then for the car ride. That’s exactly the same as well. My mom drives me to school and has the same conversation that she always has. Almost the exact same wording only changing the names. She doesn't even bring up what happened the night before.

All that leading up to school… where I hadn’t really planned anything out.

The only thing I could think of doing was actually paying attention in my classes. It’s not like that’s something I’ve ever done before. It would be nice to know why all my classes besides Japanese have been a complete blur.

And walking into my first class, I hope seeing it jogs my memory, except it doesn’t… I have no memory of this room. It feels as if it’s my first time walking in here. The teacher isn’t someone I recognize and neither are any of the students.

The atmosphere of the room feels off too. No posters or anything else posted on the walls as you would normally suspect. Students being dead silent, not a single pair talking to each other. They’re even all wearing the same strange clothes I noticed before.

Looking at the desks, I realize I have no idea where my assigned seat is. So with what looks like a full class, I pick the one open seat for me in the front. No one saying anything makes me believe that’s where I usually sit.

Immediately after I get situated, the teacher stands up and begins passing out assignments. He doesn’t say anything besides “Work on this in silence.” then sits back at his desk when done. Looking at the assignment, it’s almost exactly the same as the handouts I get in my Japanese class, only with math problems on it.

I’m realizing this class is about to be just like the days in Japanese class where Yukio shows up late.

And it was. But it wasn’t just that first class, it was all of them. Seven classes in a row where everything was exactly the same. No teaching or talking among the students upon entrance, then given a handout to work on for the rest of the time. Shouldn’t there be some teaching in my school?

When it came time for my Japanese class, I felt more worn out than any of the days before. My brain was so drained from the mind numbing emptiness that I went through for 7 hours. I guess I got my answer to why I never remembered any of them.

Walking into class, all I was hoping for was Yukio being early. Though seeing her empty seat hadn’t given hope. And as I made my way to the desk, I gave the classroom a quick scan. Something I hadn’t done until this point.

I recognized some of the students as being in my other classes. Their strange choice in hats made them easy to remember, even after only giving those classes a quick look-over. Seeing someone wearing a sombrero in school tends to be memorable.

As I’m standing in front of my desk, distracted by my classmates, I hear Yukio speak from her seat "Hey there friend!”

It was if she just appeared from nowhere. Though I hadn’t cared how she got there without me noticing "God, I'm so happy to see you right now!” I then act on impulse and hug her.

She was very surprised "Oh wow, I was not expecting this! Is everything okay today?”

I’m so relieved I can talk to her right now. There’s so many things I need to tell her to so we can keep our friendship a secret "Yes everything is fine but... when you see me at my house, can you maybe refrain from interacting with me? I hate to ask you this, but my parents were super mad yesterday when you waved at me, and I don't want either of us to get in trouble.”

When I pull back from the hug, her head cranks to the side like a curious dog would "Yeah I guess I can do that. I don't completely understand why you would get in trouble, but I'll do as you say and leave you alone at home. Are you sure that everything is okay? Because you look a little uneasy today.”

That look of concern she’s giving me feels nice. I don’t remember the last time someone was concerned for me “Yeah I’m fine. Thanks for worrying about me though.”

Once again I act on impulse and hold her hand while looking into her eyes. It feels so strange that I’m being the touchy one today. Especially since I’ve always been so restrained in the past. The feeling when we touch is just so good that I can’t seem to stop.

Wait… do I like her?

No that can’t be. I’ve been so good with avoiding catching feelings for any other girl. There’s no way I could have developed a crush on the first girl in years to give me attention. All I’m doing is matching her energy. That’s right, I wouldn’t have even hugged her if she didn’t hug me first!…

Who am I kidding… I guess my parents aren’t the only one I’m lying to…

Hold on, what am I doing? I still need to warn her about my dad "Oh yeah, and also, if my dad ever comes over to talk to you, could you tell him we're in cooking class together? When he was mad last night, I kinda told him that's where we know each other from. He would be super mad and force me to quit this class if he knew we are in it together.”

"Well I don't want to get you in trouble so again, so I'll do as you say!" she jokingly gives me a salute "I would hate to have to let you go, so I'll do anything to keep you around!”

I know I just said I have a crush on her, but I wish she wouldn't say romantic sounding stuff like that. It’s so hard to hear that kind of thing when I know there’s no way we could ever be together. Even if she did like me back, I wouldn’t be able accept her feelings.

My heart would break if I ever had to turn her down.

Though I can’t ever see that happening. Just because I like her, it doesn’t mean she would feel the same way about me. She hasn’t even given me any signs that she’s interested in women. For all I know, she’s completely straight. All I want out of our relationship is friendship.

Our conversation pauses once Sensei begins class "Okay everyone, today will be a little bit more fun of a day since the plan is for you to take what you've learned and put it to use by talking to your desk mate! Now this is serious practice time so I don't want to hear too much goofing around. And if you do mess around, make sure you're speaking 日本語."

Huh strange. I could have sworn she said the exact same thing yesterday. No one else in the class looks to be responding as if it’s weird though. Not even Yukio who has all of her attention on me.

“Hey Yukio, didn’t Sensei say that, word-for-word, yesterday?”

She looks up front at her, then back to me and laughs “Sorry, I don’t remember. I'm usually so distracted by our conversation that I don't often hear what Sensei says at the beginning of class.”

So carefree "Yeah I guess I'm also guilty of doing that in all my other classes.” with her being the only one I can talk to, I wonder if she has noticed anything out of the ordinary "Say, by any chance, have you noticed anything weird going on these last few days?”

"What do you mean by weird? Everything has been pretty normal for me.” she said with a bit of worry in her voice and slid a little closer to me.

Maybe I should pull back a little. If she doesn’t find these things weird, then it might make me sound a little crazy. Can’t scare off my only friend "Oh it's nothing. I think I may have not got enough sleep last night and I'm a little loopy today. Forget I asked.”