Yamamura Miki's First Round

After school on Monday, Kiryu Yume sent Morishita Ran a message. She replied with three words: "On leave."

There weren't many people in the cafeteria. Carrying his curry rice, Kiryu Yume scanned the room before finding Yamamura Miki in a corner.

She sat on the side against the wall, huddled so low that anyone passing by without looking closely would have thought the table was empty. In front of her were a bagged convenience store bread roll and strawberry milk.

She unfolded a tissue from her uniform pocket and spread it over the corner of the table. When she tore the bread apart, the crumbs fell onto it.

Kiryu Yume walked over, set his tray across from her, and sat down, placing his schoolbag by his feet against the table leg.

"Couldn't you at least get a meal from the counter?"

Yamamura Miki looked up at him. The bread in her hands paused.

"...There were too many people in line." She put a small piece of bread into her mouth and chewed twice, her voice quiet. "I just picked this up during break."

"Morishita is on leave?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"So today..." She paused. "It's just the two of us."

Kiryu Yume nodded as he spooned a mouthful of curry rice into his mouth.

Yamamura Miki lowered her head and drank her strawberry milk. Her gaze quietly lifted, moving from his face to the side of his schoolbag before quickly withdrawing.

Several seconds passed before she spoke. "There's a cat on your schoolbag now."

Kiryu Yume looked down at the felt cat head on the side of his bag. "Bought it last week. You like it?"

"...It's felt." Instead of answering whether she liked it, she folded the tissue covered in bread crumbs diagonally into a small square and placed it beside her tray.

"There are other designs by the vending machines. There's a Shiba Inu one. I'll bring you one next time."

Yamamura Miki put the torn pieces of bread back into the bag and pressed her fingers against it twice.

Kiryu Yume took another two bites of curry rice. "This school's pretty different from what I thought it'd be."

Yamamura Miki's hand paused as she tore the bread, but she did not look up. "...How?"

"I thought it'd just be classes and tests every day after getting in, but they hand out a hundred thousand points every month, and even the homeroom teacher needs to check permissions before answering questions." He stirred his curry with his spoon. "What did you think before you came here?"

"...I didn't really think about it." She tore the bread into even smaller pieces. "As long as I could get in... that was enough. The uniform was pretty."

The tips of her ears were already red after saying that. She hurriedly stuffed bread into her mouth, her cheeks puffed out.

"The uniform is pretty decent."

"Why did Kiryu apply here, then?"

"...My grades were just high enough, and tuition was fully waived."

Kiryu Yume took a large mouthful of curry rice. "Only after coming here did I realize it wasn't that simple. The classes, the tests, even the points for meals."

Yamamura Miki did not reply. Her fingers lightly rubbed the bread bag.

After a long silence, she spoke again, her voice halting. "But this school... is different. Whether you want to or not, you'll get drawn into it."

She stopped halfway through the thought and began tearing the bread again.

Kiryu Yume waited a moment. "And then?"

"...I've listened to everything Morishita has told me." She stared at the bread in her hands, her voice dropping even softer. "But I can't help with anything..."

"Your notes are really good, aren't they?"

"...Notes aren't useful."

"I got a forty-one on the last history quiz. I made up for it after borrowing your notes." Kiryu Yume set his spoon by the edge of his tray. "You helped me a lot. You just don't realize it."

Yamamura Miki looked down at the bread in her hands. Several seconds later, she began tearing it again.

"...Before," she paused, "back in middle school."

"What?"

"...Did you have a lot of friends?"

Kiryu Yume's spoon stopped. The question caught him a little off guard. "I had a few people I walked home with after school. We drifted apart after graduation."

"What about after that?"

"Once I came to this school, we lost contact completely." He picked up his spoon again. "What about you?"

"I didn't have any." She answered quickly, her voice lower than before. "I was mostly alone in middle school. I ate lunch in the classroom and flipped through textbooks. Classmates invited me before, but even when I went, I couldn't join their conversations."

Kiryu Yume watched her stuff bread into her mouth, her cheeks puffed as she slowly chewed, her eyes fixed on the tabletop.

All of a sudden, he felt that she looked exactly like she had when the lady collecting trays had passed by earlier and she had shrunk into herself.

"You're much better now than you were back then."

Yamamura Miki blinked twice.

"...Because of Morishita. She sat beside me on the first day at lunch and didn't ask anything. Then she came again the second day, and on the third day, she brought..." Her voice cut off, and she lowered her head.

"She brought you along."

Yamamura Miki did not respond, but the corner of her mouth moved slightly.

Kiryu Yume stuffed the last bite of curry rice into his mouth. "That's just how she is. She shows up when she wants to, and takes leave when she wants to."

"...Maybe she isn't feeling well."

"Or maybe she's curled up in the dorm reading novels."

Yamamura Miki raised her eyes and glanced at him. Her lips moved, but she swallowed whatever she wanted to say and lowered her head to take a big gulp of strawberry milk.

After drinking, a bit of milk foam clung to her lips. She wiped it away with the knuckle of her index finger, then folded up the bread bag and put it into her empty tray.

The lady collecting trays pushed her cart down the aisle. She took the empty tray beside Kiryu Yume, then glanced at the one in front of Yamamura Miki. After hesitating for a moment, she reached for it.

Yamamura Miki shrank back to make room for her. Only after the lady collected the tray and pushed her cart away did she lean forward again.

Kiryu Yume looked at her. "That lady almost didn't see you just now."

"...I'm used to it." She gathered the remaining bread crumbs onto the tissue, her tone flat.

She pulled a small pack of matcha-flavored cookies from the side pocket of her schoolbag, opened it, and set it in the middle of the table.

"...Try these." She pushed the cookies a little toward him. "The strawberry milk last time was too sweet. These aren't sweet."

The cookies stopped in the middle of the table, slightly closer to him.

Kiryu Yume took one and chewed it.

"These are better than the last ones."

The corner of Yamamura Miki's mouth moved again. She shifted the cookie bag another half centimeter toward him.

She put the last piece of bread into her mouth, her cheeks puffed as she slowly chewed. After swallowing, she spoke again.

"...You seem to forget things a lot lately."

Kiryu Yume chewed a cookie as he looked at her. She stared at the tabletop without raising her head.

"Your notebook last week. Your pencil case the week before that."

The tips of Kiryu Yume's ears grew slightly warm, but he did not stop chewing. "You've been keeping track for me?"

The tips of Yamamura Miki's ears slowly turned faint red. She hid her face behind the strawberry milk bottle. "I sit in the back. Every time you stand up and sit back down, even if I don't want to look..."

The last few words were blocked by the bottle.

"That works." Kiryu Yume took the last matcha cookie. "If someone keeps track for me, I don't have to worry about it myself."

She pushed the cookie bag another half inch toward the edge of his tray, leaving all the remaining cookies on his side. She stacked the empty trays together and tossed the bread bag into one of them.

Kiryu Yume stood and picked up his tray. The two of them headed toward the exit together.

Yamamura Miki walked half a step behind him. Her canvas shoes made barely any sound against the path. Halfway there, she sped up by two steps and caught up beside him.

When they reached a fork in the road, she stopped. Her fingers twisted around her schoolbag strap once before loosening.

"...Morishita should be back tomorrow."

"Yeah."

"Then tomorrow..." She stopped midway through, bowed, and turned toward the girls' dormitory.

After taking a few steps, she abruptly stopped and turned back. Her mouth opened, and though her voice was quiet, it came half a beat faster than before. "...The Shiba Inu one."

"I'll remember."

She nodded and hurried away, her ponytail swaying a few times before disappearing into the shadows of the trees.

Kiryu Yume took a few steps toward the boys' dormitory, looked down at the felt cat head on the side of his schoolbag, flicked one of its ears with his finger, and hitched the bag strap higher on his shoulder.