When Rita arrived at the gates of Suimei Art University Affiliated High School, classes had actually been over for quite some time. School in Japan let out early, usually a little after three in the afternoon. The remaining time was for club activities that students chose to join.
If they were not in a club, they generally went straight home at this hour. School already ended so early in the afternoon, so evening self-study sessions and the like were nonexistent. In two words... they did not exist.
Of course... if you wanted to get into a good university but your grades were not ideal, then you could only enroll in extra cram classes yourself—juku.
In Japan... you could say that schools were relaxed while cram schools thrived. Japan's basic education system was mainly divided into public schools and private schools. If you wanted to attend a good school... you basically had to get into a private school and attend juku outside of it!
It was already four in the afternoon, but there were still plenty of people at the school. Very few actually went straight home, even at an art school.
Sensing the mark she had left on Mashiro Shiina, Rita found that she was still at school. She took a breath and calmly walked into the campus.
Following the sensation, Rita quickly found Mashiro Shiina.
Mashiro sat quietly on the stone steps ahead. She wore the Suimei Art uniform, her pale yellow hair as fine as time's sand flowing past one's hand. Its elegant light-gold hue was delicate as sheer gauze draped from an ancient European castle.
She sat there, still as a porcelain doll, doing nothing at all... with no one beside her. All alone... lonely and isolated.
Looking at Mashiro Shiina's exquisite, beautiful face, she was so