After waking from her nap, Tsubaki Yuki checked her phone. It was already half past two in the afternoon.
There was no way she'd make it to Club Orientation now.
She got up, washed up quickly, and tried to figure out what to do that afternoon.
Why had she said that to Yuto at lunchtime? Yuto-kun had come to this school to help her. She knew that...
Ever since she'd been eliminated from the White Room, it was as if she'd lost the ability to speak. When she met her parents for the first time, and then her younger sister for the first time, none of it felt real.
Yet back in the White Room, she'd been able to talk just fine with Kiyotaka and Yuto.
Her parents loved her dearly, and her younger sister cared about her, too.
She'd even tried going to school, attempting to relearn at a regular school the lessons she'd already mastered in the White Room.
But it wasn't long before her teacher spoke with her parents and suggested they take her to see a psychiatrist.
The psychiatrist diagnosed her with severe depression.
Since they couldn't get anything out of Yuki, her parents thought it over, signed a confidentiality agreement with the doctor, and then told the doctor about the White Room.
The doctor had never heard such horrifying information before, and in the end could only attribute her condition to post-traumatic stress from being eliminated.
From then on, Yuki began six years of hospitalization.
The clean hospital room gave her a sense of security she hadn't felt in a long time, as if she'd returned to the White Room.
That was until the moment she met Yuto again six years later--
Tsubaki Yuki loved dancing. She'd originally planned to join the Dance Club, but the news at lunchtime that Yuto and Sakayanagi were going to Club Orientation had left her a little flustered.
If she went along with them now, it might seem like she was keeping an eye on them.
She could sign up later, too, she thought, and decided what to do that afternoon.
She'd go to the supermarket and buy a few things: stationery for studying, and some snacks to keep in her dorm.
She poured herself a glass of water, then picked up the medicine bottle on the table. The words "Amitriptyline" were faintly visible on the label.
After taking the pills with water, Tsubaki Yuki felt a little better, both physically and emotionally. She changed and went out.
Perhaps because all the new students were at the gymnasium for Club Orientation, there were hardly any customers in the supermarket. Tsubaki Yuki bought some snacks. She loved Wagashi, especially Sakura Daifuku.
When she reached the stationery section, she planned to buy pencils and an eraser.
After choosing a pencil, she looked at the colorful erasers on the stationery rack and found herself unable to decide.
"This one seems really popular. There's only one left..."
At that moment, her gaze was suddenly drawn to the eraser.
It had simple white-and-blue packaging. A brand-new eraser, about the length of her thumb, lay quietly and alone inside its cardboard box, like a solitary star in the universe.
She stood there, dazed, staring at the eraser for a long time, as if her gaze were being sucked into a black hole.
She remembered that style well. It was the same kind as the erasers the instructors had provided in the White Room. She hadn't seen one since leaving.
Why was she so fixated on an eraser of the same style?
Did she miss life in the White Room, or hate it?
Complex feelings churned through Tsubaki Yuki's mind. She was glad she'd remembered to take her medicine before going out.
Just then, a large hand reached into the corner of her vision and snatched away the last eraser without hesitation.
Tsubaki Yuki blinked and stood there, still dazed, as if she hadn't come to her senses.
The owner of the hand, a boy with dark purple hair, glanced at her with a sharp look. He said nothing and walked away, probably thinking she was a little strange.
Only then did Tsubaki Yuki come to her senses. She regretted just standing there staring. If she'd grabbed the eraser sooner, no one else would have gotten to it first.
No—did she really want that eraser in the first place? Did staring at it for so long mean she was afraid of it?
Afraid of the life in the White Room that it represented?
It was like a miniature version of the White Room: scorching white, dazzling blue.
The boy who'd taken the last eraser was also carrying a notebook and a pen, a complete set of study supplies. It seemed he'd just come to buy stationery and happened to pick that eraser.
"Um, excuse me!"
Ryuen Kakeru had paid and left the supermarket. He was pondering how to make the tall black guy in his class submit to him when he suddenly heard a girl call out from behind.
He turned around, puzzled.
It was the girl who'd been staring blankly in the stationery section. At the time, he'd thought she was an upperclassman, but judging by the way she spoke, she was probably a first-year like him.
"What is it?" he asked coldly.
"I'm Tsubaki Yuki from Class D," the girl said earnestly. "Could you sell me the eraser you just bought? I was spacing out, so you picked it up first. I really wanted that style, too..."
What was this girl playing at? Couldn't she just pick any old eraser?
Ryuen Kakeru replied casually:
"You know it was the last one, right? How about this: give me ten thousand points, and I'll hand it over. What do you say?"
The eraser had only cost a hundred points. By emphasizing that it was "the last one," he was obviously hiking up the price just to make things difficult for her.
But he hadn't expected—
"Ten thousand is enough?" Tsubaki Yuki said, actually pulling out her phone to prepare a transfer.
This girl really was a bit of an airhead. Ryuen Kakeru lost interest at once. Boring.
From what he'd observed, Class D seemed to be full of strange people. Maybe the school's class assignments really were deliberate.
He took the eraser out of his shopping bag. It didn't seem special at all—just an ordinary eraser.
"Here. Take it if you want." He casually tossed the eraser to Tsubaki Yuki.
He'd expected her to awkwardly pick it up off the ground, but she was surprisingly nimble. Holding her phone in one hand, she caught the eraser in midair with the other.
Ryuen Kakeru turned and walked away.
"Huh? What about the points?"
"I don't need them. Go find somewhere else to play." Ryuen Kakeru didn't look back.
"Wait, at least take this eraser." Tsubaki Yuki caught up from behind and offered him a new one.
"Since you gave me yours, you don't have an eraser now. I thought I should at least give you a new one."
Was she worried he wouldn't have an eraser to use? How needlessly concerned. He had no intention of studying. He'd only bought the supplies so he could write down his plans.
"Thank you so much. What's your name?"
"Ryuen Kakeru, Class 1-C."
She looked surprised. "Huh? I thought you were an upperclassman... Since you're out at this time... Thank you so much, Ryuen-kun!"
With that, she hurried away.
What a weirdo. Ryuen Kakeru looked down at the new eraser in his hand and couldn't help frowning.
"Are you kidding me? How am I supposed to pull out and use this pink eraser shaped like a Sakura Daifuku?"
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