"Your name is Rinji Takamine, right? Quite a mouthful."
"Yeah."
"From today, you'll be enrolling in Yomiyama North as a transfer student. How should I put it… this may be the first time our school has ever accepted an international student."
"Yeah."
"Your class will be 3-3. That class… has some complications."
"Yeah."
"…Takamine-kun, why have you had that dead-inside expression since earlier?"
"Because I got tricked."
After being cheated in rock-paper-scissors by his younger father's underhanded method, Rinji was forced to attend Yomiyama North and join Class 3-3.
Isaac's efficiency was terrifying. On the first day he decided, by the next morning every document was processed and the school contacted. So Rinji officially enrolled today and was now handling procedures in the teachers' office.
A few weeks ago he was a high school first-year. Now he'd "reverse promoted" into middle school third-year. The mental blow was huge.
"I'm your homeroom teacher, Kubodera."
The man speaking was a middle-aged teacher.
From the moment he learned Rinji specifically requested Class 3-3, Kubodera's expression had turned odd.
"If you need any further help, you can ask the assistant homeroom teacher, Mikami-sensei."
Kubodera gestured to the bespectacled, intellectual-looking woman beside him.
Mikami gave a warm smile. "Takamine-kun, if there's anything you don't understand or need help with, you can come to me anytime."
"Yeah."
All through, Rinji responded with a blank face.
"…Well then, Takamine-kun, come with me to the classroom. It's about time."
Seeing Rinji listless, Kubodera led him toward the classroom.
As they left, Mikami's eyes lingered on Rinji with a faint hesitation.
In the corridor, Kubodera glanced back. After a pause, he said, "Takamine-kun, I should have told you already about Class 3-3's situation…"
"I know. They say there's something like a curse."
"You already know?"
"I've heard a little. That's why I'm here." Rinji replied.
"Eh?"
They soon reached the classroom door.
Inside, chatter was loud. The students seemed to already be discussing Rinji.
"Did you hear? Another transfer student's coming today."
"Wait, that means one extra student again?"
"Yesterday one already came, and now another today."
"Who could it be…"
They spoke of Rinji, nearly all of them with nervous faces.
Click.
The door opened. Kubodera led Rinji in, and the room fell silent.
As Rinji walked in, most students' eyes flickered with suspicion and fear. The atmosphere was unnervingly strange.
But Rinji had no intention of bothering with it.
He walked to the blackboard, picked up chalk, and wrote his name. Then he clapped his hands on the podium and spoke slowly.
"Everyone, I came to this school with a heavy heart. I don't plan to spend the rest of this year with you, nor make friends. At most, I'll be here one month."
"…."
The students, who had kept their heads down, all raised them in surprise.
They hadn't expected a transfer student to be this arrogant on his first day. Clearly not normal.
They stared at Rinji, and Rinji looked back at them.
His gaze caught Mei in the corner.
Mei seemed slightly surprised, but showed no emotion. She looked at him briefly, then lowered her head back to her book.
She was quiet, like a transparent shadow.
"Takamine-kun transferred here from abroad for about a month of study. I hope you'll all take care of him," Kubodera said with a smile, pointing to an empty seat.
"You can sit beside Sakaki."
He pointed to a frail-looking boy.
Rinji nodded, grabbed his bag, and walked over.
---
At either Shuchiin or now Yomiyama North, Rinji was never the type to actually attend class.
At Shuchiin, he already knew everything taught. Here, he wasn't even here to learn.
When class ended, Rinji stood up, planning to go find Mei.
Mei had left immediately without a word. Rinji wanted to ask her about the situation.
But as soon as class ended, he was blocked.
"Takamine-kun, I heard you transferred from overseas. Which country?"
"Syria."
"Eh?"
"Your Japanese is really good. Did you study it?" a girl asked.
"I learned it from watching… movies." Rinji answered vaguely.
"Eh?"
Despite their warmth, Rinji gave them no face.
"Then why did you come to this remote city's middle school? Family work? Or something else?"
"I came to investigate something."
He smiled faintly at the students crowding him.
"I heard this class is called the 'cursed Class 3-3,' right?"
"…"
At once, silence.
Everyone's faces went stiff and uneasy.
"If you don't want to talk, then I'll just go ask Misaki…"
"Wait."
A voice came from the group.
A strikingly beautiful girl with flowing red hair stepped out of the crowd and stood before Rinji.
She looked down at Rinji sitting at his seat and said, "Takamine, there is no one named Misaki in this class."
"Huh?"
"Don't go looking for someone who doesn't exist," the red-haired girl said. "This is also for the sake of everyone in class."
When she said this, the surrounding students remained silent, as if agreeing with her words.
Rinji: "…You're telling me not to go find Misaki."
"None of us know any student named Misaki."
"Whether you know her or not doesn't matter. What matters is that I do."
"Wait…"
"You don't want me to go find her, but you're not explaining clearly," Rinji said, staring at the girl's ugly expression. "Don't you know half-saying things is the same as taking a shit and stopping halfway?"
"You…"
"Are you the kind of person who pulls your pants up with half the shit still hanging?"
Rinji didn't care that the other was a girl and used crude words without restraint.