"If that's the case, you won't learn anything by observing me. Our situations are pretty much the same, aren't they?" I pointed at our nearly identical shopping baskets.
"But I'm really curious about what other people buy. If that's bothering you, I'm sorry." With that, Ichinose gave me a slight bow.
"It's not really bothering me. If you want to look, go ahead. I just don't think I'll be buying anything else."
She smiled at me apologetically.
Her explanation just now had made me think even more highly of her "excessive kindness." She'd only wanted to see what I was going to buy, but she'd also offered advice while I was hesitating. Clearly, she wasn't a very good spectator.
Now that I knew the reason, I relaxed and browsed the other sections of the convenience store. Then I found a very interesting wooden sign.
[Free Zone]
The goods on the counter were arranged in a complete jumble, with no order to their placement. It looked like a beggar abandoned by the roadside on a rainy day. But at least beggars were cast aside because they had little value to offer. I couldn't see anything like that in these products.
They were still within their expiration dates, just like the other items on the shelves.
"Huh, this is..."
My movements had caught Ichinose's attention, and she came over to inspect the miscellaneous goods with me.
"They're actually free?" Ichinose sounded incredulous.
"But it looks like there's a limit." I pointed at the sign beside it that read [Three items maximum per month].
"A limit? That's different from the free food in the cafeteria."
"The cafeteria has free food too?" Come to think of it, I still hadn't had lunch.
"Luomu, didn't you go to the cafeteria for lunch?"
"Yeah, I haven't had the chance yet." If I hadn't wasted so much time thinking about those questions without a clue, I wouldn't be hungry now.
"There's a free meal in the cafeteria called the Mountain Vegetable Set Meal. It's made up of vegetables from the mountains and forests. If you ate that every day, you probably wouldn't get enough nutrients. But unlike here, there's no limit on the free meals."
"But why would the school set up a Free Zone here? Surely no student would use up all their points."
"That's not necessarily true. If someone's a hedonist, they might do exactly that. Some people spend points without a second thought in pursuit of pleasure." I offered a counterargument.
"If that's the case, the school is spoiling the students a little too much."
"Who knows?" I shrugged. With a limit of three items, I didn't rush to grab anything.
"But if it's all mountain vegetables, then probably not many people would eat the free meal, right?" I asked Ichinose as I headed toward the checkout.
"Actually, the free meal is pretty popular—or, well, it might've been the most popular choice at lunchtime today." She sounded a little unsure as she explained.
"Hm?"
"It seemed like everyone was curious, so they all ordered it to try."
"...You did too, Ichinose?"
"Yeah."
"How did it taste?"
"Pretty average. It felt like they hadn't even added salt. If you ate it for long enough, you might see through the world's illusions... Or maybe it just wasn't to my taste. Either way, I couldn't finish it."
"..."
Her curiosity was surprisingly strong in one particular area.
"Luomu, what are you planning to do next?"
The school hadn't arranged any classes for today so we could get familiar with the entire campus. But I wasn't planning to do that. The best way to hide things from others was to consider hiding them from yourself, too.
"I'm going straight back to the dorm."
"And then?" Ichinose pressed.
"Probably rest and recharge," I said uncertainly.
"So you don't have any plans, then. Aren't you going to have lunch, Luomu?"
"Well, I'm not very hungry, so I think I'll skip it."
"You can't do that. You need to eat properly, or you'll ruin your health," Ichinose said firmly. "You didn't even have breakfast, did you?"
"I can say that with confidence because I did eat breakfast properly. Besides, look—I haven't used up much energy, have I?" Whether it was riding the bus or attending the opening ceremony, neither counted as strenuous exercise. And why was I even explaining all this to her?
"Eating is how you take in energy, isn't it? Isn't that a good thing?"
"No, taking in energy and conserving energy are completely different concepts, though I admit they're related."
"So if you feel like your body can still hold out, you might even skip dinner?"
"I never said that... Besides, it's already past mealtime. If I'm going to eat, I'll wait until dinner."
I glanced at the clock in the hallway. It was almost three in the afternoon.
"There are lots of snack shops nearby."
"Forget it. It's too much trouble."
"You even think that's too much trouble... So you're not going to buy any clothes, either?"
"For now, the school uniform is enough for me. I'll get casual clothes later, when I have time."
"If you keep putting it off, Luomu, you'll never buy any."
"If I need to, I'll do it. Besides, it's hard to get around with all this stuff in my hands, isn't it?"
I waited at the end of the shopping street for Ichinose's reply, though I didn't know why. Did I secretly have a henpecked husband streak? Or had I checked the box for "highly receptive to women"?
"Hmm, I guess that's the only thing we can do."
"I'm glad you understand. Then I'll be off."
"Okay, see you later."
After that conversation, I quickly left the shopping street and returned to my floor in the dorm.
I pressed the elevator button and waited for it to come down from the eleventh floor. At the same time, I took out my device and logged on to the school's social network. I'd hoped to find evidence supporting my guesses about the school's true nature, based on my conversation with Ichinose. Unfortunately, the site was full of useless content, as if someone were deliberately burying anything important.
Well, there was no rush. I had at least a month.
"Hey, hello."
I turned toward the voice.
A super-cute girl stood there with a large bag of things in her hand, and she had an impressive chest about the same size as Ichinose's.
Was my luck with girls going through the roof?
No, why was that the first thing I'd thought of?
"Ah, hello... Is something wrong?"
"Nothing. I was just heading back to the dorm, so I thought I'd say hi." She smiled at me.
Ah, she was so friendly—and incredibly charming! Did the school only admit cute, warm, energetic girls? Or was I just unusually lucky?
"I think I saw you with Ichinose earlier. Are you in Class B too?"
"Are you Ichinose's friend?"
"I don't think we're quite friends yet," she said after a moment's thought, then added, "We only know each other, but I hope we can become friends. And I'd like to get to know you too, if that's okay. My name is Kushida Kikyo, and I'm a student in Class 1-D. Nice to meet you."
If she'd approached me like that on the street, I might have thought she liked me. Unfortunately, I couldn't sense any desire to have a deeper conversation with me. At the same time, maybe I was being too cautious, but I couldn't help feeling a deep-seated ill intent behind her friendliness.
I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said she wasn't as sincere as Ichinose. Her deep-seated affability was a mask. I didn't know what she was hiding, but after making friends far and wide, she could apparently turn those connections into some kind of weapon.
Was it her network?
I wondered as I returned her greeting.
"My name's Luomu. Like Ichinose, I'm in Class B."
"Luomu..."
Kushida thought about my name for a moment. Then she suddenly looked up with a bright smile. "I'll remember your name."
"Luomu, what school did you come from?"
Aah, why did everyone keep asking me that? Couldn't conversations with other people get away from the subject of middle school? Humans really were such monotonous creatures.
And I genuinely didn't know the name of the middle school I'd attended.
With no choice, I repeated what I'd told Ichinose, then even swore to her, thumping my chest, when she looked doubtful.
"It's a little hard to believe, but Luomu doesn't really have any reason to lie to me, does he?"
"That's right. Sorry, I know it is a little strange."
"Things like that are bound to happen sometimes. Come to think of it, I don't think I used my middle school's name very often either. But I'll remember yours."
Was she saying my memory was bad? No, that wasn't it. My teachers had never mentioned it in the first place.
"Can we exchange contact information?" Kushida suddenly clapped her hands and asked. "My goal is to get along with everyone in our year. Could you help me with that?"
"Ah... Sure, if you want."
"Of course I do. If I can't even stay in touch with all the students in my year, getting along with the whole grade would be a pipe dream." Kushida gave me a sunny smile.
It seemed like she really did mean it.
And just like that, an angelic figure had somehow appeared in my contacts list...
At that moment, the elevator arrived on the third floor.
"Well, see you next time."
"Ah, see you."
I stood awkwardly by the elevator and said goodbye to her. I didn't look away until the double doors closed. The electronic display in front of the elevator revealed the inside of the car, and Kushida disappeared from view when it reached the ninth floor.
I stood staring at the screen for a while. Once I'd confirmed the elevator hadn't moved, I went back to my room.
I casually tossed my shopping bag full of household items into the entrance, which barely qualified as an entrance. But after thinking it over carefully, I organized everything and put each item where it belonged.
Then I collapsed onto the bed, exhausted.
That's right, just as I'd said, I wasn't planning to explore the entire campus today. Instead, I'd rest and recharge by sleeping on the soft mattress.
Long periods of sleep could harm the body. The longer you slept, the more it encouraged you to keep sleeping, lowering your metabolism and causing fatigue and memory loss. It could also affect the heart's function and make it weaker.
So sleeping more wouldn't lessen your fatigue. It could even have the opposite effect. I knew that from experience.
I didn't pay it any mind. The afternoon sun was bright, and the light shining through the window was vivid. I lay quietly on the bed, listening to the spring insects' piercing cries, and gradually sank into a light sleep.
I wasn't prone to self-harm. This was simply the most natural and reassuring way for me to feel that I existed.
"Knock, knock, knock—"
After a flurry of urgent knocking, I struggled to open my eyes. The immense weight of accumulated exhaustion settled over the left side of my brain, and when I faced the dark room, I was dazed for a long time. Fortunately, the relentless knocking reminded me what I needed to do next.
Relying on my memory of the route, I felt my way toward the doorknob.
I'm not bragging, but working in the dark is what I'm best at. My awareness and ability to act were always sharper at night than during the day. As for dusk, who knew? I usually felt groggy then.
"Who is it?" I opened the door in the dark.
"Ichinose."
"...This is the boys' dormitory floor."
"But there's no rule saying girls can't come here. I checked the handbook."
Don't you think this is awkward? It was like a girl suddenly walking into the boys' changing room. It wasn't that bad, but it still felt wrong.
"This could easily give people the wrong idea... Anyway, what is it?" I muttered my concern, then straightened up and faced Ichinose.
"Just out of curiosity, Luomu, do you know what time it is?"
The hallway's motion-sensor light fell on her, while her back was shrouded in darkness. The moon was carefully hiding behind clouds as black as ink.
It was already night. I could tell that much from the dark room...
"If I remember correctly, nothing's scheduled for tonight." I dodged her question about the time and thought carefully about what our homeroom teacher had said before leaving. After confirming I remembered correctly, I answered.
But this time, changing the subject didn't work.
Before you continue