"I didn't even attend the graduation ceremony."
"No one in our class knew what happened to him after that."
"Now that I think about it..."
The man with glasses glanced at the man across from him.
As far as he could remember, Wei Xinhai had already started acting strangely before he stopped coming to school.
He couldn't remember what Wei Xinhai had been like at first.
He only remembered that, later on, he became rather neurotic.
The students in their class were all a little afraid of him.
Thin, pale, quiet, easily startled, and a little timid...
It was hard to like someone like that.
Even though the teacher said Wei Xinhai was having some problems and asked them to look out for him, no one actually did as the teacher asked.
Before long, Wei Xinhai had become a loner.
If the teacher hadn't said that Wei Xinhai had taken a leave of absence, they might not even have noticed he'd stopped coming to school.
"He doesn't seem to have any problems now?"
"Ah, there's something wrong with him?"
The woman looked surprised. "Mental illness?"
Wei Xinhai abruptly clenched his fists.
His temples throbbed with sudden pain.
Some memories were so old they should have been long forgotten, yet they surfaced in his mind again and again.
They wouldn't let go.
They were unbearable.
"I..."
Wei Xinhai spoke with difficulty, but enunciated each word, "I... am... not... men-tal-ly... ill."
His head seemed to hurt even more.
Those words...
He had said them countless times before...
"Huh?"
The woman gave an awkward little laugh.
She instinctively ducked behind the man with glasses.
A hint of wariness showed in her eyes.
It was the instinct to keep away from someone mentally ill.
The man with glasses