Outside the Asahigaoka Branch School building.
Nohara Sato and Fujimiya Konomi were assigned the task of sawing planks.
They pulled out two chairs from a classroom to use as supports, laid the wood across them, and got to work.
They needed to cut the planks to suitable lengths to repair the roof and floorboards.
On the other side, Konomi helped hold the wood steady. Watching all this, she sighed in frustration. "Why did I come all the way back during Golden Week just to do stuff like this?"
Sato chuckled as he worked. "You think this is bad? I helped Kazuho-neesan with this for years."
"Hmph!"
The girl puffed her cheeks and glared at him. "You totally spoiled her!"
"I heard from Natsumi that Kazuho-neesan just sleeps through every class. You were the one actually teaching everyone."
Sato shrugged, swapped out the cut plank, and asked Konomi to adjust the chairs so he could place the next one down.
"She's been like that since the beginning. But with only a handful of students split across different grades all sharing one classroom, there's really no way to properly teach classes. So self-study was the only way."
"After Fujihara-sensei retired, it's just been Kazuho-neesan holding the fort."
"But if we had questions, she'd still help explain. Since we're all at a junior high level, she at least had the knowledge to handle that much."
At that, the two of them couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"She's so lazy," Konomi sighed.
"Enough about Kazuho-neesan. What about you, Konomi? What are your plans?"
"What plans?"
She blinked at him.
"University. Which one are you aiming for? You may not make it into the absolute top schools, but with your grades, you could still get into a really good one."
"'May not make it into the top'? Sato, that's rude!"
Konomi gave him an annoyed glare that seemed to say, "How dare you underestimate me?"
Sato neatly stacked the cut planks off to the side and raised an eyebrow at his childhood friend with a teasing smirk.
"Am I wrong?"
"I'll punch you!" she said, half-jokingly waving her delicate fist.
"Hey! You two, quit flirting and bring the wood over already!" came a voice from the roof of the school building.
Kagayama Kaede was crouched under the eaves, frowning at them.
How shameless, flirting in broad daylight like that.
Flirting?
Both Sato and Konomi froze, then glanced at each other. Their faces flushed red.
Sato felt something weird stirring inside him, but he kept his cool and said, "You take a break. I'll carry the planks over."
"Okay…"
Konomi replied softly, barely louder than a mosquito.
Sato brought the wood over. Kaede crouched coolly above him, gazing down in her usual deadpan way.
"Could you at least try to act like decent role models? There are still kids around," she said.
Kaede was undoubtedly a good person.
But for some reason, she always gave off a bit of a delinquent vibe. Not in a bad way, it actually made her kind of cool.
As Sato passed her the planks, he muttered, "Don't start spreading rumors, Kaga-neesan. I could sue you for defamation."
"Tch."
Kaede scoffed, not even bothering to argue. Anyone with functioning eyes could tell they'd been flirting.
Elsewhere on the roof, Kazuho was also working.
To her credit, she didn't dump all the dangerous tasks on others. She at least called on Kaede, the local "freelancer," for help.
Peeking over from the other side, she called down, "We're good on wood up here. Go check if Natsumi and the others need more. And see how their repairs are going."
"Got it."
Sato waved to Konomi, signaling her to come along, and resumed their earlier chat.
After a moment of thought, Konomi asked, "What do you think of Chiba University?"
Chiba University?
Among over 700 universities in Japan, it usually ranked between 10th and 20th in most respected rankings. It was just enough to squeeze into the top tier.
Sato frowned slightly. "Isn't Chiba University kind of hard to get into?"
"Is it? Then I'll just work harder."
She smiled, then walked into the building ahead of him.
Sato watched her back for a moment, stunned. He furrowed his brow in thought.
He felt like he was missing something.
Sometimes, he could be unexpectedly dense.
…
They worked all the way from morning to noon. All around the school building, people bustled with activity—energy, youth, and laughter. This was the most precious thing a school could have.
When Kazuho finally declared the work done, cheers erupted.
The car she drove slowly wound along the mountain roads. With little traffic, it looked like a lonely journey.
The mountain forests stretched out lush and beautiful, like a painting.
Renge leaned on the window, blinking as she gazed back at the slowly receding school.
Suddenly, a soft, childlike voice broke into song—hesitant and unpolished.
(NOW PLAYING: Asahigaoka Bunkou Kouka)
"Among the mountains ablaze in green…"
The clear notes lingered in the air. Everyone in the car looked at each other and smiled.
One by one, more voices joined in, echoing through the vehicle and flowing out into the wild mountain hills.
"We can hear the echoes of laughter.…"
"Our voices now ring out in song…"
"Asahigaoka, our dear friend…"
[…]