A lot of time has passed since then - well, not really, but it sure felt that way! And in that short timespan, he’d learned that he wasn’t imagining things, and Megumi really WAS avoiding him.

He let his long legs move him to his destination, Class 1-B, in silence. Ruminating over it wasn’t helping. He didn’t know why or how any of this came to be - how did his childhood friend come to hate his guts this much?

Was it something he said?

If so, what?

Or was it just something he could attribute to the years that went by?

Maybe Megumi didn’t think their friendship back then was really all that great. Suddenly, his chest ached.

He had always held such admiration towards her. He scoffed, this was Megumi he was talking about. THE Megumi! Popular and envied, she was the most shining and charismatic person in class, and he was just grateful to be her friend - but he’d never really thought about what she ever thought of him.

He paled slightly. EH? EHHHHH???

Was that it? Maybe --- Megumi didn’t see him as a friend back then, but just some annoying kid they had to drag along?

No, no, no - he swattted his hand, intent on convincing himself. If that was the case, then --- he'd know something was up, wouldn't he? Right???

He didn't like how plausible that explanation was... his stomach dropped at the mere thought. Those days were precious to him...he hoped it was all just a misunderstanding.

'Oh...'

His worries intensified, even as he reached his classroom and sat down. He tried to think of other thoughts, but it didn’t work - the situation was just that odd. His mind couldn't reconcile his view of the old Megumi with the new one. How did she change that much?

What had happened?

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He let out a long-suffering sigh, turning his head to gase at the window instead. He figured this wouldn’t be all that rude, considering the fact that he arrived early to class. But it was no use.

Also, the titters and giggles coming from girls in the back made it rather hard for him to focus. Call him conceited, but he was noticing a disturbing trend...and he was 60% sure it was because of HIM they were acting this way. He didn’t even know how to approach this kind of...attention, so he did what he could - ignoring them completely.

'This is so creepy...' he couldn't help but think. 'Why did they think this was normal?'

That was the scene that greeted Megumi once she’d arrived.

'Megumi...!' His heart surged.

He wished he could just, you know, talk this out with her - and maybe this was his chance.

Shun’s neck turned rapidly towards her, looking for some kind of hint of her hatred for him.

Was it for real? Or was she just feeling under the weather that day?

He would get no news, since she seemed so completely out of it when she sauntered clumsily to her own seat near him without even looking in his direction at all. He wondered what was up with her.

He was stuck inside that feeling, until a disturbance came. Igarashi, a boy with a sunny smile and soft vibe, flicked him in the face.

Shun groaned slightly, and the giggling intensified. He scowled at Igarashi, saying: ‘What’s with you?’ and massaging his forehead. Igarashi let out a chuckle. ‘Not much. Just wondering why our resident class star is acting so sad. Did something happen?’

Igarashi was a boy he’d bumped into in the library after dodging yet another ‘friendly’ invite from Haruki. The guy was insistent, and it was the strangest thing. Even now, he didn't claim to understand the motives of that seemingly refreshingly nice Class Rep.

Igarashi was a whole different story. He was simple, fun, and held a strange rank of neither being popular yet not being one of the uh, invisible students, either. He just was. People greeted him, he’d smile and greet back, but he never went above simple niceties.

Well, except with Susuki Shun. Shun found him to be extremely chatty. Truthfully, he had no idea why Igarashi liked him so much, but he found his company enjoyable - and he figured it would never be worse than Haruki’s smiling enmity.

Ever since that day, Shun had thought back on that meeting of theirs and noticed something eerie.

Maeda Haruki....didn’t seem to like him very much. Even that was an understatement.

The thing was, Shun couldn’t really pinpoint why. Sure, he was the new kid in town, but - his eyes trailed back to the side of the classroom where Megumi’s seat was - that couldn’t be why. After all, Megumi was also from Kyoto, and thus had to have been ‘the new kid’ at some point too.

Haruki had made it very clear that day - he didn’t consider Megumi to be a threat at all - to be honest, he didn’t seem to view Megumi like she was a fellow human being.

Thinking of Haruki usually made Shun kind of nervous. It was a bad habit from before - since he hated stepping on other people’s toes - so how was it that once he thought of Haruki taunting Megumi, that nervousness changed into pure contempt?

He frowned. He really didn’t quite understand himself these days, he realized as he re-entered reality. Now, Igarashi was staring at him - he must've taken too long to answer.

‘Hmm? Ah, no - I’m fine,’ he found himself saying, but it didn’t sound all that convincing. Igarashi threw him an odd look before going back to his seat on the other side of the classroom.

Igarashi's final words stayed inside his mind, repeating themselves incessantly. They said,

‘If you’re sure...’ with that annoyingly worried voice, and even though the bell had just wrung, Suzuki wished he could get a 're-do' on this whole school transfer - seeing as nothing was going his way.

He clutched his head, groaning internally.

How did things get this confusing?