The November sunlight streamed in through the windows, warm and cozy.
The lunch bell had just rung, and the classroom Tsushima Kagami was in instantly came to a boil, like a pot of water surging up all at once.
The door was shoved open, and a portion of the students charged straight for the cafeteria.
Over by the window, someone leaned out and shouted down to the floor below, asking which hotel the third-year upperclassmen had stayed at in Kyoto last year.
At the seats by the window, a few boys clustered together, scrambling over a crumpled map.
The sound of running footsteps came from the hallway; someone slammed into a wall, setting off a burst of laughter.
The desks in the classroom had been pushed aside, the chairs left toppled every which way.
The cleaning supplies that were usually arranged so neatly had been kicked over by who-knows-who, a mop lying sideways across the floor with no one bothering to deal with it.
On the blackboard, someone had written a few big characters in chalk.
[Departing tomorrow—Kyoto!!!]
Followed by a dozen or so exclamation marks, all different sizes, crooked and uneven.
Beside it someone had also drawn a deer, its antlers drawn to look like tree branches, so then someone else had drawn a pair of scissors next to it, captioned "Let me trim those for you."
At the bottom of the blackboard, the names of the day's cleaning duty students had been half erased, leaving only the two characters "Oguri," followed by a smudge of chalk dust.
The temperature in the classroom was at least three degrees Celsius higher than usual.
At this moment Tsushima Kagami was unhurriedly eating his own bento as always, sitting face to face with Shimizu Nayotake.
Completely indifferent to all the lively commotion around him.
Today's dishes included grilled sea bream that Shizuku had specially prepared.
The glistening golden flesh was slightly charred along the edges, the scorched rims curling up just a touch to reveal the snow-white fish beneath.
He picked up a piece of the fish with his chopsticks and brought it to his lips.
The fresh sweetness of the fish and the rich mellowness of its oils instantly burst across his taste buds.
Tsushima Kagami, who had originally never much cared for fish—whether river fish or sea fish—had now gradually grown accustomed to the fish dishes Shizuku made.
He was starting to develop quite a taste for them, you could say.
Shimizu Nayotake, at this moment, was likewise holding a bento with the very same dishes as Tsushima Kagami's.
Ever since her sudden hospitalization last time had made everyone worry.
Although the several large donations Tsushima Kagami offered had all been refused by the mother and daughter.
She had still, under Shizuku's gentle yet stern persuasion, agreed to let her lunch bentos from then on be made for her.
Lately the nutritionally balanced bentos specially tailored to Shimizu Nayotake's body had been working quite well.
Recently she had simply been able to eat her fill, and at the same time her protein intake had risen as well.
Compared to when they had first met back at the start of the school term in April, she had filled out a good deal all over.
That exaggerated, lopsided proportion—caused by being so thin and yet unreasonably running wild with savage growth in just one particular area.
Was also gradually drawing closer to the golden ratio.
Owing to the gene of humanity's innate longing for the golden ratio, Tsushima Kagami couldn't help sneaking a few extra glances.
In any case, this time he was finally seeing a normal figure with normal proportions at last!
Shimizu Nayotake had clearly noticed Tsushima Kagami's gaze upon her, too.
But, long since used to Tsushima Kagami's gaze, she didn't mind it—nothing could compare to the bento Shizuku had made, right there in front of her.
She no longer wanted to be a source of worry for everyone, so she had to properly get her body back to health.
To get her body healthy she had no choice but to properly accept her friends' help.
Not wanting to be a bother to her friends meant she had to bother her friends to help her.
This whole tangle of logic had already left Shimizu Nayotake's head practically steaming.
At any rate, her bottom line was gradually being broken through; if it was just a matter of letting herself eat the bentos her friends had gone to the trouble of making.
Then that wasn't so hard to accept after all.
After all, her stomach really was so hungry, and she didn't want to eat red bean bread anymore, nor did she want to keep refusing her friends' goodwill.
Of course, astronomical help like Kagami's was still out of the question—rather than helping her, it would be better to help more people who actually needed it.
After all, the way she was now, she was already extremely happy.
She couldn't go on being insatiably greedy.
So, things being as they were, she might as well eat first.
Tsushima Kagami watched Shimizu Nayotake, who had been growing steadily more cheerful lately—her appetite, too, had begun to grow confident and bright right along with her.
Before, she would still stay silent, hiding and concealing, sneaking a huge mouthful all of a sudden whenever he wasn't paying attention as he ate.
Now she was already inhaling her food like a storm, right in front of him, without the slightest reservation.
When Tsushima Kagami saw that he was already full but still had quite a lot of leftover food remaining, he simply smiled and pushed it over to Shimizu Nayotake.
In the past, even if he were full, he would surely have forced down all the leftovers out of a sense of gratitude.
But it was different now—he had discovered that Shimizu Nayotake had an absolutely enormous appetite.
The bentos that Shizuku, Seika, and a few of the other girls occasionally made simply couldn't satisfy her.
It felt like no matter how much came, she could eat it all.
So once, when he genuinely couldn't eat any more, he jokingly asked Nayotake whether she could help him polish his off.
Nayotake said a quick "thank you," then took her own bento, dumped the food into her bowl, and went wild devouring it again.
At first Tsushima Kagami still wondered whether he was being a bit rude.
Giving Nayotake his own leftovers to eat.
But on later thought—forcing himself to eat what he couldn't finish would harm his body, dumping it out would be wasteful, and Nayotake actually hadn't had enough to eat.
Letting Nayotake polish it off was a win-win, then.
And besides, at home Shizuku ate no small amount of the leftovers he couldn't finish or set aside because he found them not to his liking.
Thinking of it this way, Tsushima Kagami's sense of guilt vanished completely.
"Nayotake, eat a little slower. I've still got more over here."
Beside them, Ijichi Seika—who had long grown used to eating bento together with the two of them—said with concern.
Watching Shimizu Nayotake nod while she ate, Seika finally let out a sigh, took out a handkerchief, and wiped the grains of rice that had stuck to her cheek.
Ahh, normally she seems like such a quiet, reserved girl—how is it that when she eats she's more like a starving ghost reborn into this world?
So thought Ijichi Seika, and then she looked over at the one who was pushing his deliberately set-aside, untainted leftovers over to Shimizu Nayotake.
"Don't look at me like that."
"This is all for the sake of Nayotake's health, too."
Tsushima Kagami said with a smile to Ijichi Seika, who was looking at him.
"I brought a bento too, you know. Stop always giving Nayotake the leftover bento from your own picky eating."
Ijichi Seika felt a little sorry for Shimizu Nayotake, who was like a puppy being fed leftovers by Tsushima Kagami.
"Besides, Shizuku said to warn you that you're not allowed to leave any food unfinished anymore."
"Otherwise I'm going to tell Shizuku."
"So, have you told Shizuku yet?"
Tsushima Kagami wiped the corner of his mouth as he looked curiously at Ijichi Seika.
"Not yet, actually."
Ijichi Seika said, then furrowed her brow.
"Do I really look that much like the type to go telling tales?"
"Actually, it's fine even if you do tell Shizuku."
"Huh?"
"Aren't you afraid Shizuku will get angry?"
Ijichi Seika looked at Tsushima Kagami—just a few days ago he'd had her keep it secret and not tell Shizuku that he was not only leaving his food unfinished but feeding all of it to Nayotake.
What a joke—how could he be afraid of one little cherry-blossom girl?
"Seika, it's not that I'm afraid."
Tsushima Kagami looked at Ijichi Seika with a serious expression.
"What I'm doing is called taking care of Nayotake-san while also being considerate of Shizuku's sensitive heart."
"I'm only afraid that if she finds out I didn't finish the bento she made, she'll shed those little pearls!"
"Is... is that so?"
Ijichi Seika wore a thoroughly unconvinced look.
"Of course."
"And besides, at home Shizuku helps me deal with no small amount of leftovers too."
"So, even if you do tell her."
"What of it, and what could come of it?"
"Seika-chan, you wouldn't want to see Shizuku shed those little pearls either, would you?"
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