I naturally recognized this junior high school.
Deyu Junior High School. My younger sister and I had both gone there. Most students in this area attended either Deyu or Minqing Foreign Languages University Affiliated Junior High School. They were public schools assigned by district. The affiliated school had stronger foreign-language programs, while Deyu was a comprehensive junior high school where admission to high school depended entirely on the results of the entrance exams.
The girl had been my younger sister's classmate in junior high, so of course she had studied here too.
The school wasn't much different from the one in her memories. Unlike her elementary school, which had changed beyond recognition, this one had only been renovated in a few places. A few buildings had been refurbished, and a new one had been added.
I, on the other hand, found it unfamiliar. It had changed a great deal since I'd attended. The main teaching building wasn't even the same one. The original little pale-yellow building had been replaced by a large brick-red one.
The girl passed through the iron gate and went straight inside. Knowing her way around, she went first to see the classroom she'd stayed in when she graduated.
The blackboard at the back of the classroom was bare, with only a few slogans urging students to sprint toward the entrance exams. Judging by their faded lettering, they'd been there for a long time.
Aside from the blackboard, everything else in the classroom had been cleared away. It was practically spotless.
The classroom felt unfamiliar to her. It did to me, too.
Still, she sat for a while in the seat by the window. It had been her seat. When she turned her head, she could see the playground outside, and beyond it, the apartment buildings in