Chapter 6 – Nickname
Ever since I befriended Asanagi-san, going to school didn’t feel like that much of a pain anymore. It was still a hassle, mind you.
Our school day started pretty early in the morning, at around 7.30 a.m., so we had to wake up at 6.30 a.m.
While I wasn’t a bad student by any means, I hated studying. I’d rather not study if I could help it, and I found myself wishing for the school to be closed because of some random accidents quite often.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen today, so I had no choice but to force myself out of bed and go to school.
I tend to go to school early, though it wasn’t because I was excited about it. There was a good reason for me to do so.
“Good morning.”
“…Good morning.”
I quietly bowed toward the principal as he greeted the students from in front of the school gate, then walked through the sparsely populated corridor to my classroom. My watch showed that it was 7.15 a.m. Since the corridors usually got crowded around five minutes before class started, I could hide behind the crowds and enter the classroom with them, but there was a small problem with that plan.
You’ll understand if you were to look at the other classroom.
“Ah, good morning, you’re early today.”
“My club had morning practice today, it just ended. I had to wake up at five…”
“Woah… as expected, you guys just built different.”
I immediately left them. Those people should’ve chatted inside the classroom, but for some reason, they decided to chat in front of the door.
They probably met each other in front of the class and started to talk as soon as they did. Obviously, this was annoying, especially whenever I told them to move (because they were in the way), they would glare at me.
The later it got, the more people would do something like this, this was the reason why I tried my best to come to school earlier than the crowds would.
“Oh, good morning, Yuu-chin ~”
“Ah, Nina-chan, mornin’ ~”
…Sadly, my luck today was rotten.
The person in front of me was Amami-san and… Nitta-san, I think? She hung out with Amami-san and Asanagi-san often.
Most classrooms had two doors, so when something like this happened, you could just enter the classroom from the other door, but, unfortunately, since my classroom was located at the end of the hallway, it only had one entrance.
So, if I wanted to enter the classroom, I had to shoo those two away.
“Yuu-chin, did you watch it last night?”
“Mhm, I watched it live last night. Himuro-kun was awesome, wasn’t he ~ ?” (idk how to make this one clearer, what she meant is that she watch a show in real-time and not from recording like what japanese people normally do, help me)
What are they talking about, I wonder? A show? Maybe a male idol appeared on the show, who knows.
Around that time last night, what did I do again? Shooting people on Apex?
Well, whatever, since they were talking about some nonsense I didn’t know about, I decided to go to the toilet to waste some time. I did this previously and it worked, so it is worth a shot.
I washed my hands in the bathroom, fiddled with my bangs that I never really cared about, then peeked toward the entrance again.
I took my time, so I should’ve wasted a few minutes on that.
They shouldn’t take more than three minutes to chat like that, so I should be able to enter the classroom now.
“I’m more of a fan of Edamura-chan than Himuro, he has this “bad boy” aura, you know what I mean?”
“Ah, I can see that.”
“Himuro-kun is still irreplaceable though.”
…Somehow, they multiplied…
I took my time, but I forgot to consider that Amami-san was there too.
A crowd would naturally form around her, no matter the time and place.
I would have a better chance shooing them off when there were only two of them. I guess my plan backfired, huh?
“…It can’t be helped.”
I gave up resisting and decided to face them head-on. After all, if I were to loiter around the toilet again, people would give me a strange look.
Before I realized it, the crowd around Amami-san had increased from three people to four. Still, the space they occupied was a narrow one, why didn’t they just sit down somewhere in class?
“Um, excuse me?”
I called out to them, but guess they didn’t hear me since Amami-san and her group continued their talks.
Even though I was standing right in front of them, none of them noticed me. Either they were too absorbed in their conversation or I just didn’t have a strong presence.
Should I just shout at them?
“Uhh—”
“Ah, right, there’ll be another broadcast today at eleven!”
“Eh, really? That’s sick ~!”
I tried to call them out again, but their numbers increased from four to five at that moment and my voice was drowned by their chatter.
…I’m getting pissed… Should I start something here? I mean, whatever happens next, at least it would be a good stress reliever…
“Yuu, you’re in the way!”
“Ouch!”
was about to call out to them again, a sixth person entered the crowd and landed a karate chop on Amami-san’s head.
It was Asanagi-san.
“Scooch, I need to go to the restroom. You guys are crowding the door, I can’t get through. Also, don’t you realize you’re blocking other people’s way too?”
“Ouch, ouch… Right… sorry, Umi.”
“As long as you understand, now, move, shoo.”
“Wait, Umi, I’ll go with yo– ouch!”
“You just went there not too long ago, wait for me in your seat.”
“Boo ~ Fine.”
When Amami-san returned to her seat, the crowd around her followed. It was like watching a school of fish. Well, whatever, I could enter the classroom now.
“—”
Suddenly, my eyes met Asanagi-san’s as she walked out of the classroom.
To keep our friendship a secret from the rest of the class, we would normally just ignore or avoid each other at school, but sadly, this circumstance didn’t allow me to. After all, she did that out of concern for me. I would feel guilty if I were to ignore her and treat her like a stranger.
“…Thank you, Asanagi-san… Also… Good morning…”
“Mmm… Good morning, Maehara.”
We whispered so that the other classmates wouldn’t notice it, then we passed each other.
The very next moment, Asanagi-san sent me a text.
[Asanagi-san: It feels strange, you keep calling me ‘-san’.]
[Maehara: Then, Asanagi.]
[Asanagi-san: Just call me Umi.]
[Maehara: Asanagi.]
[Asanagi-san: Kidding ~ But, seriously, call me whatever you like, I’m okay with anything.]
I could call her by anything whenever we hung out, but I wonder if the day when we could call each other by our first name at school would ever come.