Class D Reconnaissance

After school, Kiryu Yume did not return to the dormitory.

He walked down the corridor toward Class D. The farther he went, the emptier the bulletin boards on either side became. By the last one, only half of an old notice that had not been properly torn down remained.

The door to Class D's classroom stood open, and voices spilled out from within—noise coming from several directions at once, chair legs scraping across the floor, someone slapping a desk and laughing, someone shouting across three rows.

Kiryu Yume stopped at the doorway.

Near the back by the window, a large red-haired boy had his legs propped on a desk. His voice drowned out half the classroom as he demonstrated a shooting motion to the person beside him.

"I'm telling you, that ball—you just watch. At the next practice game, I'm definitely going to block that guy!"

Two rows in front of him, a bespectacled boy was reading. The clamor around him seemed to exist in a different space; the rhythm of his page-turning never faltered.

Kiryu Yume's gaze moved deeper into the room.

Golden hair flashed in the reflection from the window. Karuizawa Kei sat midway along the window side, holding a small mirror as she adjusted her bangs. Sensing someone at the door, she lifted her eyes for a glance. Her gaze lingered on Kiryu Yume for less than a second, and the corner of her mouth twitched—she had seen that face at the school gate before, but could not be bothered to care—then she looked away and returned to her mirror.

Kiryu Yume shifted his gaze. In the corner by the window in the last row, a brown-haired boy was looking outside. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. There was no expression on his profile, and the relaxed slope of his shoulders made him seem unlike a student sitting in a classroom. He had been looking out the window during the entrance ceremony too, as though nothing had happened on the stage.

Then he noticed a seat slightly left of the center of the classroom.

A girl with long, straight black hair was reading with her head lowered. A strand by her left temple had been braided, its end tied with a white ribbon. Between her and the surrounding noise seemed to lie a layer of air that would not tremble. Someone passed beside her desk and brushed against the back of her chair, yet she did not look up, and even the interval between page turns did not change.

Kiryu Yume watched her for two more seconds. The entire class was making noise, yet this single seat was quiet. It was not the quiet of isolation—it was as if she had shut out everything around her herself.

"—Huh?"

A voice came from behind him, carrying the trailing note of a mild surprise.

Kiryu Yume turned around. Kushida Kikyo stood in the corridor, holding a stack of printed materials in her arms. Her light-brown bob was tilted slightly, its inward-curving ends resting just above her shoulders. Her eyes widened for a moment, then curved into two soft crescents.

"You're... from Class A?"

"Kiryu Yume."

"Ah—" Kushida Kikyo's eyes brightened, as if she had recalled something pleasant. "I know you. You're the one who picks up Sakayanagi every morning at the school gate. You're pretty famous in Class A."

Her tone was as casual as if they were discussing a new dessert in the cafeteria. When she said "famous," her voice lowered slightly, and her eyes swept down both ends of the corridor.

"Are you looking for someone? If you need help..." She looked down at the materials in her arms and gave him an apologetic smile. "I can deliver these to the staff room first. It's not urgent."

"Just looking."

"Just looking?" Kushida Kikyo blinked, then let out a small laugh. "That's such an interesting answer. Most people would say they had business with someone, or just give a name."

"You're not most people either."

Kushida Kikyo's smile froze for an instant. It was brief—her lips remained curved, the shape unchanged, but the warmth in her eyes cooled by half a degree. Then that chill disappeared, covered once again by warmth.

"What do you want to know?" She took half a step closer. The friendly undertone in her voice did not change, but something more solid was added to it. "I can tell you. I know a little about most things in Class D."

Kiryu Yume looked into her light-blue eyes.

"Anything."

"Then—" Kushida Kikyo freed one hand and pointed toward the back rows. "The red-haired one is Sudo Ken. He's in the basketball club and really good at three-pointers. He's a loyal guy too, just way too loud. Teachers sometimes call him out in class, but he doesn't care at all."

Her finger moved to the bespectacled boy. "Yukimura Teruhiko. His grades rank among the top three in Class D. He doesn't talk much and works on problems even during breaks. He's the complete opposite of Sudo, and the two barely interact—not that they have any conflict. They just live in different worlds."

Her finger moved toward the window. "Karuizawa Kei, one of the central girls in our class. Her words can be sharp, but the girls in her circle listen to her. She usually doesn't pay much attention to other classes."

Her finger drew back without pointing at anyone. "The one by the window in the last row—Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. Honestly, I probably know about as much about him as you do. He doesn't talk to people much and sits by himself during breaks too." Her voice softened, soft enough to sound almost regretful. "I wanted to talk to him more, and I tried a few times, but it never really worked out."

Finally, she pointed at the girl with long, straight black hair.

"Horikita Suzune." Kushida Kikyo's tone changed—not as light as when she introduced Sudo, nor as casual as when she mentioned Karuizawa. It was a faint, restrained neutrality, as though all emotion had been filtered before being released. "Her grades are excellent. She should have ranked near the top of the year in the entrance exam. But she does not associate with anyone at all. Since school started, I've tried speaking to her several times—each time, her answer was no more than two sentences."

"What did she say?"

"The first time, 'Not interested.' The second, 'There's no need.' The third time, she didn't answer and just walked away." Kushida Kikyo curved her lips into a perfectly practiced smile, but her eyes did not smile with her. "I don't think she dislikes me. She truly just believes she doesn't need anyone."

Something faint lingered at the end of those words. Kiryu Yume could not tell whether it was unwillingness or helplessness after being pushed away.

"You came to Class D today. Who did you want to learn about?" Kushida Kikyo looked into his eyes, slowing her speech. "Or were you—just passing by to take a look?"

The way she paused between those two options was peculiar. Kiryu Yume realized that she had already guessed something, but she would not press him. Kushida Kikyo's friendliness came with a boundary—she asked, but never forced.

"What is Class D like as a whole?"

Kushida Kikyo fell silent for a second. Then her smile changed shape—the curve at her eyes shifted from polite to earnest, and her lips pressed together before relaxing.

"None of them are bad on their own. But everyone does their own thing." She looked into the classroom. "Sudo plays basketball, Yukimura solves problems, Karuizawa chats with her group, and Horikita sits alone. No one is tying everyone together." Her voice sank, like a stone slowly falling beneath the surface of water. "During the first month of school, our class lost the most points. Lateness, talking during class, not turning in homework—the school hasn't said anything, but it feels like there will be problems if this continues."

Her finger tapped lightly against the materials, its rhythm slow.

"I don't usually say things like this to people from other classes." She tilted her head toward Kiryu Yume, her smile brightening again as the heaviness in her eyes was quickly tucked away. "But you asked, so I told you. My intuition says talking to you doesn't have to be so tiring."

Kiryu Yume did not respond to that. "Has Horikita Suzune lost points?"

"Horikita? No. She follows the rules closely. She's never late and never talks in class—more accurately, she does not talk to anyone at all."

"What does she usually do?"

Kushida Kikyo thought about it. "Classes, reading during breaks, then the library after school. She comes alone and leaves alone. Honestly, if you weren't sitting in the same classroom as her, it would be hard to feel that she was even part of this class."

Kiryu Yume looked into the classroom again. Horikita Suzune still had her head lowered over her book, the white ribbon hanging quietly amid her long black hair. Noise surged toward her from every direction, only to disperse at the edge of her desk.

"Alright, I need to deliver these materials." Kushida Kikyo took two steps toward the staff room, then turned back. The corridor lights fell across her face, tracing the outline of her bob with a faint golden edge. "Kiryu—you're easier to talk to than I expected. And when you listen to people, you're really listening."

She smiled.

"Come find me in Class D sometime if you're free. You don't need to let me know beforehand."

Then she turned and left. Her footsteps were light and steady, vanishing around the corner at the end of the corridor.

Kiryu Yume looked into Class D's classroom once more. The redhead was still talking about basketball, the boy with glasses was still turning pages, Karuizawa Kei was quietly chatting and laughing with the girls beside her, and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was still looking out the window.

Horikita Suzune was still reading.

Nothing had changed. It was as if he had never stood in the doorway.

He turned and headed back.

The lights in Class A's classroom were still on. Sakayanagi Arisu sat at her seat with a book open before her. Kamuro Masumi stood beside her, having just put her phone into her pocket. When Kiryu Yume entered, Kamuro Masumi's eyelids shifted slightly.

"Back?" Sakayanagi Arisu raised her head, her cane leaning against the edge of the desk.

"Yeah."

"Class D?"

"Yeah."

Sakayanagi Arisu closed her book and interlaced her fingers over the cover. A thin smile surfaced in her purple eyes. "Tell me."

Kiryu Yume sat opposite her. "Sudo Ken. Red hair, basketball club, loudest voice in the room. Yukimura Teruhiko. Glasses, good grades, never looks up no matter how noisy it gets around him. Karuizawa Kei. One of the central girls. She looked at me once, then turned back. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. He kept looking out the window and did not say a word to anyone. And a girl with long, straight black hair. She read the whole time without ever looking up—Horikita Suzune. Kushida Kikyo said her grades are good, but she does not associate with anyone at all. Since school started, she has not taken the initiative to speak to anyone."

After listening, Sakayanagi Arisu did not speak immediately. She tapped the book cover once, slowly, as though in thought.

"Everyone does their own thing?"

"Everyone does their own thing. They've lost the most points, and no one is managing them."

Sakayanagi Arisu nodded lightly. Her interest in Class D seemed to end there—as though she had completed a puzzle, pressed in the final piece, looked over the whole picture, and then pushed it aside.

"Good work, kitten."

She raised her right hand. Kiryu Yume's body reacted before his mind—his shoulders sank slightly, and his neck leaned forward by less than two centimeters. Sakayanagi Arisu's hand came down on his head and gave it a light pat. Her palm was small, its warmth passing through his hair, neither cold nor hot. As she withdrew her hand, her fingers casually brushed aside his bangs.

"Come pick me up tomorrow too."

"Got it."

He stood, picked up his bag, and walked to the door. Sakayanagi Arisu's voice came from behind him, casual as though she had just remembered something minor.

"Oh, and—the Horikita you mentioned. She's the younger sister of Horikita Manabu, the student council president."

Kiryu Yume paused. Sakayanagi Arisu had already reopened her book, as if she had merely mentioned it in passing.

He left the classroom.

At the other end of the corridor, Kamuro Masumi was leaning against the wall. Seeing Kiryu Yume emerge, she straightened and walked beside him for several steps. Their footsteps overlapped in the empty corridor. They remained silent for more than half the corridor.

"Sakayanagi thinks highly of you," Kamuro Masumi suddenly said.

Her tone was as indifferent as usual. Yet from the way her lips pressed together after speaking, Kiryu Yume caught a rare trace of something—something almost like a warning, perhaps one she had not even realized herself.

"She thinks highly of many people."

Kamuro Masumi did not reply. After two more steps, she suddenly quickened her pace and turned into the stairwell ahead of him. Her long, straight black hair flashed around the corner and disappeared.

Kiryu Yume went downstairs.

The streetlights in front of the dormitory had already come on. Morishita Ran leaned against a lamppost, holding a can of strawberry milk. Condensation on its surface slid down along her fingers. When she saw Kiryu Yume approach, she moved the can away from her lips.

"Waiting for someone?"

"You." Morishita Ran handed him the strawberry milk. "How was Class D?"

Kiryu Yume took it and drank a sip. Strawberry-flavored, sweet, the can still retaining the warmth of her hand.

"You knew I went to Class D?"

Morishita Ran did not answer that question. She looked at the patches of light cast by the streetlamp on the pavement, her voice flat. "What did you see?"

"Very noisy. Everyone doing their own thing. There was a girl who read the whole time without looking up."

"Horikita Suzune?"

"You know her?"

"Her brother is the student council president." Morishita Ran took the can back and drank a sip. "The one who spoke at the entrance ceremony. His tone was flat, but every word was heavy enough to hit the ground."