Lunch time
Yuji, Haruto, and Sakura Koizumi sat together to eat their lunch.
"Why did you come late?" Sakura asked, her words muffled as she spoke through a mouthful of rice. A grain clung stubbornly to the corner of her lip.
Haruto snorted, then leaned closer, barking in a ridiculous rhythm—"Bow, bow, bow"—as if mocking both her question and her manner of speaking.
Without hesitation, Sakura brought her palm down on the back of his head, slamming his forehead against the desk with a satisfying thud.
Yuji gave a small sigh, stirring the food on his tray without much interest. "We were just roaming inside the school," he said calmly, though his gaze lingered on Haruto, whose head now rested on the table as if it had been glued there by force.
Yuji's eyes drifted toward Yukino. She was sitting by herself, quietly picking at her lunch.
He stood, walked over, and scratched the back of his neck. "If you don't mind… you could eat with us."
Yukino looked up, her expression calm. "No, thank you. I don't really like eating with others. Sorry." Her voice was polite, almost too formal.
Yuji gave a small nod. "Alright."
With that, he turned back and rejoined his friends.
Haruto teased him, "Come eat with us"
Yet again, Haruto's head ended up smashed against the desk.
"I died" Haruto murmured, closed his eyes.
No one paid him a slightest attention.
Yuji and Haruto had both dozed off in the middle of class, their heads buried in their arms.
"Haruto! Yuji!" the teacher's voice cracked across the room like a whip.
Haruto stirred, half-awake, and lazily placed his hand on Yuji's back. His eyes barely opened as he mumbled in a sluggish tone, "Yuji… don't sleep in class…"
Then, without a shred of shame, he slumped forward and fell asleep again.
At her desk, Sakura pressed a hand to her forehead. "These idiots," she whispered, shaking her head.
A couple of students stifled their laughter, while the teacher's eyebrow twitched dangerously.
"Wake up those idiots!" the teacher shouted in frustration, veins practically popping from his forehead.
The students sitting nearby sighed and leaned over, shaking Haruto and Yuji by the shoulders—one even gave Haruto a light smack on the back.
Both of them groggily lifted their heads, blinking around the classroom with blank stares, as if they'd just been born and were seeing the world for the first time.
Yuji rubbed his eyes, trying to figure out where he was. Haruto, on the other hand, yawned, mumbled something incoherent, and promptly let his head drop back onto the desk.
That was the last straw. The teacher snatched a piece of chalk and hurled it across the room. It smacked Haruto square on the forehead with a click.
"Out of my class!" the teacher barked. "Your punishment is to clean the entire class after hours!"
The class erupted into muffled laughter while Haruto groaned dramatically, holding his forehead like he'd just been shot.
Again they leaned against the wall outside the classroom, arms folded.
After class hour.
Haruto sighed dramatically as he rolled up his sleeves, grabbed a mop, and struck a ridiculous pose. "Fine then!" he declared, as if it were some kind of noble transformation.
He turned toward Sakura, who was packing her bag. "Hey, Sakura… help us out, will you?"
Sakura slung her bag over her shoulder without even glancing at him. "I can't. I want to go home. Let's see you tomorrow—bye-bye, workers."
She waved mockingly and walked off, leaving Haruto frozen in place, mop still in hand, looking as if he'd just been betrayed by his closest ally.
Haruto turned to Yuji with pleading eyes, clutching the mop like it was some tragic burden.
Yuurifrowned *Why the hell is he looking at me like that?* watching his friend's expression twist into something that almost resembled a hardworking laborer's face.
Haruto shuffled closer, lowering his voice. "Yuji… don't think I'm abandoning you, but… I've got a problem at home."
Yuji raised an eyebrow. "What problem?"
Haruto put on his most serious expression, like he was revealing a life secret. "Sometimes… problems aren't meant to be told to anyone. They stick with you forever. So… I'm leaving now. Bye-bye."
Before Yuji could respond, Haruto shoved the mop into his hands and left.
Yuji grumbled as he pushed the mop across the floor, irritation written all over his face.
Then he noticed Yukino, still sitting at her desk, her eyes glued to a textbook.
He stopped and tilted his head. "You're still here? Why didn't you go home?"
Yukino turned a page without looking up. "I just wanted to study a bit more."
"Ohh…" Yuji sighed, he pushed the mop listlessly across the floor again. He glanced at Yukino, then decided to talk while he worked.
"Don't you have any friends? Or… do you just not like being around people?" he asked, with curious,
Yukino finally looked up from her notebook, her expression unreadable. "What makes you think that?" she countered instead of answering.
*What a cold reply,* Yuji thought, scratching the back of his neck. "I just… never see you smiling or talking with anyone. So I wondered, that's all."
"So you've been stalking me in class," Yukino said calmly, her tone so flat it was impossible to tell if she was joking or serious.
Yuji froze, then suddenly dropped the mop and waved his hands frantically, shaking his head left and right. "No, no, no—nothing like that!"
His face flushed red as the mop clattered loudly against the floor.
For the first time after many years, Yukino's lips curved into a faint smile. It was small, fleeting—almost like she hadn't even realized she'd done it.
The moment she noticed, she quickly lowered her head, hiding it behind her hair.
But Yuji had already seen it. His chest tightened as the image lingered in his mind.
*That smile… I've seen it now. A beautiful smile.*
Her eyes lifted toward him, steady and unreadable.
"No one likes to talk with me," she said. Her voice carried no hint of sorrow, no frustration—just calm indifference, as if stating a simple fact.
"Why?" Yuji asked without thinking.
Yukino shrugged lightly. "Who knows?"
"Do you want to be friends with everyone?" Yuji asked, leaning on the mop.
Yukino hesitated. "I… don't know. Even if I try…" Her voice trailed away, the rest of the word swallowed before they could form.
*The same question. The same one that once made me happy… and the same one that left me like this.*
Yuji straightened, his tone unusually firm. "You can make friends. It's simple—just a smile and a greeting is enough."
He raised his thumb with a confident grin. "Don't worry. I'll make this world your friend."