Tatsuya Sakuya watched Karuizawa Kei storm back to her seat, finding her sulking retreat oddly amusing.
She had been perfectly fine one second, and the next...
Still, Tatsuya Sakuya did not dwell on it.
Girls were always hard to figure out, after all. Rather than overthink it, he might as well hurry over and see who was looking for him.
But when Tatsuya Sakuya rose from his seat, he noticed something strange at the classroom's rear door.
At some point, a crowd had gathered there.
Kanji Ike, Yamauchi Haruki, and a few other boys who usually loved gossip were now packed neatly around the edge of the doorway.
Even some students from other classes passing through the hallway could not resist glancing curiously in that direction.
Tatsuya Sakuya strolled over.
"What are you all crowding around the door for? Watching monkeys?"
Tatsuya Sakuya suddenly reached out from behind and patted Kanji Ike on the shoulder.
"Whoa!"
Kanji Ike flinched so hard he nearly jumped.
When he turned and saw Tatsuya Sakuya, Kanji Ike quickly grabbed his arm and made a shushing gesture.
"Shh, keep it down, Shiba. Look over there."
Tatsuya Sakuya looked in the direction Kanji Ike was pointing.
Beside them, Yamauchi Haruki wore a lovestruck expression as he suppressed the excitement in his voice and offered a seemingly convincing analysis.
"There's no doubt about it, right? Look at how she's standing. She's trying to look casual, but she's blatantly staring into our classroom."
"Exactly!"
Kanji Ike nodded along, his voice brimming with self-satisfied certainty.
"It's not so much that the person she's waiting for hasn't arrived... it's that he hasn't even noticed her."
"You know that feeling? Like when you've put all that effort into preparing a present, but the person you want to give it to hasn't