When... when had it begun?
When had I stopped being alone?
Familiar faces flashed through his mind. Beneath his dim gaze, he could no longer make out the expressions on the faces of those who had been so, so close to him. There were only faces he could picture clearly even without seeing them.
And all of it slowly drifted upward through his dim field of vision at an impossibly sluggish slant, gradually sinking into darkness.
When had it begun?
As everything slowly rose, the faintly warm smile at the corner of his tilted lips widened slightly.
Then, along with that thought, along with the widening smile, a faint white light appeared before his eyes in the darkness, smooth and round like an egg. A scene slowly emerged within it.
"Morning!"
That day was the day after their sparring session. He entered the classroom through the back door, hesitated for quite a while, and stood there blankly for several minutes before finally greeting the boy who was chewing on a steamed bun—the boy who had defeated him yesterday.
But he received no reply.
To be honest, he had been a little embarrassed then. He had finally worked up the courage to say hello, only to be ignored.
He seemed to have felt a little disappointed at the time.
In the end, he could only maintain his usual expression, one that barely kept from crumbling, walk past the boy, and sit in front of him.
Originally, having received no response, he had wanted to sit far away and escape that awkwardness. But he had received word yesterday that Teacher wanted them to sit together.
So, instead of sitting beside the steamed-bun-chewing boy as he had intended, he sat in front of him.
"Oh... morning."
Just as he sat down, feeling awkward