Shuu sat at his desk, forehead resting against his palm, trying to make sense of what had just happened.
Motoko Iura—his sister's classmate, the cheerful pink-haired gremlin—was now sitting in the seat directly behind him.
And she had not shut up for more than thirty seconds.
"Your handwriting's neater than I expected. What, do you secretly practice calligraphy?"
"Hey, do you really drink two cartons of banana milk a day? Isn't that, like, a dangerous level of potassium?"
"Oh, is that your novel draft in the notebook? Are you secretly an aspiring light novel author?"
She leaned forward, chin resting on the back of his chair, her voice a constant drizzle on his thoughts.
He finally turned around. "Are you going to keep doing this all day?"
Motoko gave him a wide-eyed look. "What? I'm just making conversation. You're the one who looked lonely."
"I'm trying to study."
"For what? You don't look like the 'trying to get into Tokyo U' type."
"…You're surprisingly judgmental for someone who doodles in math class."
"Aw, thanks~!"
Shuu let out a long, slow breath. This girl was a chaos engine.
Even more surprising: the rest of the class didn't seem to mind her. In fact, a few of them were already chatting with her like she'd been there all along.
It was as if the anime's background had warped—an extra had stepped forward into focus.
And now she was interfering with his route.
He glanced across the room.
Sakura was quietly flipping through her textbook, occasionally peeking in his direction.
But every time she did, she saw him talking to another girl.
Shuu frowned.
He hadn't worked this hard just to let some randomly reassigned pink tornado derail him.
When lunch break came, he made a decision.
He walked straight over to Sakura's desk.
"Want to eat together again?"
Sakura looked up, her expression unreadable for a second.
Then she nodded.
"…Okay."
Shuu smiled. "Let's go to the courtyard. It's quieter there."
And with that, he led her out of the classroom—leaving behind a small wave of whispers and one pink-haired girl watching him go with exaggerated curiosity.
"Oooh~ someone's serious~"
Motoko Iura propped her chin in her palm, watching their retreating backs.
"This might be fun after all."