I didn’t want to end up sitting near Yuki after the events of yesterday. Mainly stemming out of the fact that she probably slept on an empty stomach last night and may not like me for it.

What am I thinking? She doesn’t care if I made a sloppy dinner yesterday.

I had missed out on breakfast with the club as I had been tending to my own matters at night.

“Ah yes!” Yuki stood up, proceeding to approach the board to write something, “Well… is this correct?”

Playing in this make believe world that Yuki had built, has become the basis of our friendship at this point. I’m only playing in her delusions just to keep her happy.

It doesn’t matter to me at this point. As long as Yuki and the others are happy, I wouldn’t care about what happens to me because I’ll know I’ll end up satisfied.

It’s what a friend does after all.

Yuki stood up from her chair and proceeded to walk out of the classroom with her bag on her arm.

“Morning Ryu-san!” Yuki waved at me, “Did you have another Council Meeting in the morning?”

“Yeah… the meetings are getting relentless…”

“That sucks… sensei had some homework to give to you but asked me to pass it”

“And I assume you forgot it?”

“Uhh… yeah” Yuki scratched her hat.

There were limits to Yuki’s delusions. I think I’ve almost reached the edge of it,

“It’s alright, I’ll go get it on my own” I smiled.

“Alright, we have a class change later so I’ll see you at 3B after break”

“Class change?”

“Mhm!” Yuki looked back at the classroom, “It’s a shame though… I kinda liked it”

I had noticed that the classroom Yuki had sat in seemed more degraded than before.

“Don’t worry, you’ll probably get to stay in this class before graduation”

“Well, how will you do it?”

How will I do it?

“I’ll just convince the teachers. They decide the rooms after all”

“Would you really do it for me?”

“Isn’t that what a friend would do?” I responded.

Yuki's smile in response was almost irresistible to me.

“Anyways, do you want to stop by the club room?” Yuki leaned forward in excitement.

Oh right… It's break time.

“How about the reference room?”

“Sure!”

For some reason, I had an apple stuffed inside my blazer for such a situation. The problem with me is I overthink the possibilities. Almost to such a degree that I ended up stressing myself or overestimating someone.

We sat at the corner of the reference room, ignoring the table in front of us since the chairs for it were damaged to a point where even if Yuki sat on it, it’d break.

“So Yuki-san, what’ve you been doing recently?”

“Not much…”

“I heard you had a big breakfast this morning”

“Yea…” Yuki shrugged, “Hopefully I can have lunch”

“Sorry about the dinner last night… I’m not the best at cooking”

“It’s alright” Yuki smiled, placing her hand over my shoulder, “After all, you were doing it for us”

I paused, still unable to respond to Yuki’s usual smile for a few seconds.

“Thank you”

“It’s no problem” She followed but in a cheerful manner, “Do you think you’d do fine cooking food during University”

“One way or another I have to do it… heck, even on my birthday I have to cook on my own since ordering takeout for it wouldn’t be the best”

“I know…” Yuki stared at the ground, “I have a question”

“Go ahead”

“Do you know how kids would always celebrate each other’s birthday?”

“Of course”

“I’ve never seen my parents celebrate their birthday… Most of the time they don’t even have a massive gathering”

“They usually message each other to say happy birthday… It's the same for me. After all, adults are too busy with their lives nowadays. I reckon Megu-nee would understand”

“Mhm…” Yuki looked at me, “Should we host a birthday party for Megu-nee one day?”

“Of course! Why not? She deserves it more than any other teacher”

“Mhm! Would you want me to celebrate your birthday when you’re an adult?”

Yuki had always asked us these types of normal questions despite our circumstances.

“Oh no, don’t worry about me! I’d probably forget about my birthday” I waved my hand dismissively.

“Why would you forget it?”

“The same reason why adults usually just send text messages to others”

“Would you remember my birthday?” Yuki looked at me.

“I’ll always do that! I won’t just restrict it to just a text message”

“Aw, thank you!” Yuki’s radiant smile continued, “I’ll try to remember yours”

“Thanks…” I looked at the window, “Would you want me to cook something for you during then? If I get Yuuri’s approval in cooking”

“Of course! We can buy every food in the world and see what you can make!”

“Why would–”

“Just imagine what you could make with all of it?” Yuki interrupted.

I had a small chuckle when thinking of it.

“I won’t go into details”

“Aww, what were you thinking?”

“Probably enough for a feast”

“Could you cook that much in a short time?”

“Well, I just work fast”

“That does explain how you bring homework to Megu-nee in such a short amount of time…”

We didn’t speak much after that.

“Oh hello!” Yuki waved towards the door.

“Ah, good morning…” I waved towards the door as well, “What’s that student’s name again?” I whispered to Yuki.

“Hm? Kaoru-san”

Kaoru-san… Horticulture enthusiast. Often responds in short and simplistic sentences… and… did he change to the Track and Field club or the Home Economics Club?

I’m gonna guess the latter.

“Thanks” I turned over to the door, “Hey Kaoru-san, how’s the Cafeteria going?”

Silence followed. I could feel Yuki looking at me with interest.

“That’s alright… I liked the lunch yesterday”

Yuki looked at me weirdly.

Did I mess up or something?

“Yea it’s alright” I continued.

Yuki’s confusion continued even further as I spoke. I felt a sense of nervousness

Whatever… it doesn’t matter. I’ll just use my tried and tested technique.

“So yeah… and then–" I took a glance at the clock, followed by my most surprised face, “Oh, I’m late. Sorry about that Yuki-san, I have to go. I’ll talk to you later Kaoru-san”

That was a lazy yet efficient excuse out of any social situation. But perhaps it’s the best contingency option.

“Man… It’s hard to talk with Yuki-san’s imaginary friends nowadays” I mumbled while resting my face on the club’s table.

“Are you having issues with Yuki-chan again?” Yuuri turned over.

“Of course…”

“I’m surprised you even know how to start up a conversation of such without Yuki looking at you weirdly”

“Well she did today… for once”

Yuuri looked surprised when I mentioned it..

“Don’t beat yourself up over it! I know you’re doing fine for Yuki’s sake”

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“Well, I wanted to have a one on one conversation with Yuki-san for once. But it’s so hard to keep up with Yuki nowadays”

“For a Council President, why do you do such a thing for someone’s sake? I used to remember more serious people, who would probably do something different”

I’ve only continued this role for Hano’s sake yet it’s a reminder of my failures.

I didn’t know why, but one good thing out of the outbreak is that I’m not set to such a high standard now.

“Don’t you see the group dynamic here?”

“What do you mean?”

“... Never mind” I sighed, “We just need to control her delusions for the sake of her safety”

“Agreed…” Yuuri turned to me, “We’re going to have a study session as I’ve found some math textbooks that we could use. After all it’d be nice to keep our academics up”

“We can go with that… How many textbooks did you get?”

“About eighteen of them”

Even though the textbooks were about a hundred pages long and focused on a specific subject, it was ridiculous

“Would you give everybody about four or five?”

“I was going to give you nine of them”

“Why’s that?”

“You don’t do much for the club…”

“... Fair point”

“Although, I could lower it to seven if you do well with cooking to a point where we can switch turns”

Yuuri knows how to negotiate in her favor…

“Don’t worry, I haven’t given up”

“Thanks”

“I’ll just say this before you have any doubts, I’m alright with your decision-making with the club. After all, Megu-nee did give you that role for a reason”

For some reason, I felt like my decision to step away from the spotlight during the outbreak seemed relieving for my mind.

“Thanks” Yuuri smiled, “I know you’ve been trying your best to be close with Yuki-chan”

“Sometimes I get confused with her”

Anyways, my advice on Yuki-chan… just don’t overthink it”

Don’t overthink it… well, that explains a lot…

I had always thought of every possibility, yet it ended up frying my brain unless I simplified it.

“Got it…”

“Anyways, we’ll set up a study room after lunch. Can you come with me and find Kurumi-san for me? She should be finished with morning patrol”

“Sure” I slid the door open, noticing Kurumi with her shovel visibly stained as she went towards the rooftop.

“She’s at it again…” Yuuri mumbled.

“You can’t blame her…”

We walked towards the rooftop, noticing Kurumi washing her shovel with the nearby tap close to the garden.

“Did you do it again? Going on a patrol is more than enough” Yuuri approached Kurumi.

“I found one at a good spot”

“It’s too risky to do it alone”

“You’re worrying too much!”

“Cause I’m the club prez!” Yuuri continued.

“As if”

Kurumi rested her hands on the balcony, staring at the sports field below us. By her look, I could tell she was thinking about something, or more specifically someone.

“What’s on your mind?” Yuuri walked over.

“Remember when Yuki said the baseball club was doing a morning practice?”

“Yes, I do”

“I’m just wondering if one of them is running on the track…”

“I see”

I decided to keep silent for now.

The club had unanimously come up with the cover story of Kurumi breaking up with her boyfriend for Yuki and decided to forget about it.

“What’s on your mind Ryu-kun?” Yuuri turned over to me.

“Just keeping quiet for now”

“I don’t know why you’ve been oversleeping recently… since you usually like to get to school earlier than usual. Thought it’d be the same today”

“I don’t have to contend with such social standards now. After all, I keep tossing and turning around”

“Hope you have a pillow…” Kurumi chuckled, “Those couches are pretty much rock solid”

“Yuki took the final two from the Staff Room” I leaned at the railing, “I don’t mind though”

“Eh? Are you merely letting her take everything from you at this point?” Kurumi looked at me.

“She’s right” Yuuri turned over, “Yuki-chan just hugs the second pillow while sleeping on the first one”

“Sounds like her…” I chuckled, “Well, I can’t do anything with it now”

“Yeah,” Kurumi nodded.

“Let’s head back” Yuuri opened the door, “I still have lunch to make”

“Don’t count me out” I followed shortly.

For much of the afternoon, Kurumi, Yuuri, and I had tended to the usual cooking, although I started to notice that Yuuri had pushed me to take up some roles that she would regularly assume.

“I’m back!” Yuki called out, “What’s that? Crepes?”

“It’s Okonomiyaki. Let’s have it for lunch”

“Yay! I love Okonomiyaki” Yuki gave out her usual cheerful smile before sitting down.

“You’re quite late. Where’s sensei?”

“I had a make-up class with her” Yuki rested her head on the table, “You know what? Do we need Math in the first place? When they talk about the future, it sounds so surreal…”

“You’re hopeless” Kurumi muttered.

“When you’re in a rush as a cashier” I chimed in, “You need to use mathematics to calculate the change as you don’t have the luxury of just keeping the change all of the time. Not to mention if you’re going to take up engineering or–”

Kurumi’s amused look stopped me from continuing any further.

“Woah… that’s a lot of information” Yuki mumbled, her face visibly dizzy.

I’ll admit, I usually didn’t act like this in front of most people. But for some reason, it felt like it when it came to how I talked to specific people.

“Then should we do some math together?”

“Eh…” Yuki stopped.

“With Kurumi-chan too”

“Nah” Yuki and Kurumi responded.

“I can join… after all, we can’t always be thinking about what happens now right?” I grabbed onto a chair.

Yuuri’s expression felt as if she had an idea.

“Let’s all graduate together”

“... That’s right!” Yuki grabbed onto Kurumi’s hands, “Let’s do it!”

Graduation… I’ve been too stuck thinking about the future and how to set up my success despite my lack of qualifications. But with that out of the way… what do we do then?

“I don’t really care though…” Kurumi said, almost overwhelmed by Yuki’s smile.

“We can do that,” I smiled.

Despite the thoughts in my mind, I had concluded that perhaps we could truly be in University one day.

Whether graduation would end with us living to see the world rebuild or continue with Yuki’s fantasy, I reckon we would still be happy.

“Dinner’s ready” Yuuri called out.

We all sat down at our respective chairs, with Yuki showing the same sense of excitement over the Okonomiyaki.

“Thank you for the meal” We all called out.

After finishing our lunch, Yuuri had brought us into a classroom for studies where we finished somehow early as after finishing five chapters, I decided to lend Yuki some help in the meantime.

I didn’t realize that we had almost leaped through the entire afternoon in such a short time. It was only until I had finished dinner and decided to head off for the night that I remembered what I had to do tomorrow.

There wasn’t much to prepare, rather anticipate, considering Kurumi’s character. I could probably guess how it’d lead out tomorrow.

“Get up!” A high-pitched voice echoed through my ears.

What… What am I doing?

I had found myself on the ground, noticing the almost surreal barrage of fireworks that lit up the sky which contradicted the bleak nature of my surroundings.

“You think you won this battle?” The voice continued, starting to feel like sobbing, “Your spitefulness never achieved anything good”

Was I meant to respond to this?

I looked over to the left, noticing the dark figure towering at me. I couldn’t exactly make out her face, yet her long wavy hair seemed almost familiar.

“Look at what you’ve done, you devil!”

I looked over to my left.

That was… quite the fight.

Despite the violence that I had witnessed, I didn’t realize it was some sort of dream. It was as if I had seen this scene, over and over again.

Yet I didn’t feel any sort of emotion to it. Not even fear. I didn’t know why.

“You won’t be able to escape this warehouse! Not on my watch”

The figure raised its right foot, almost aiming straight at my face. I could even hear her giving out a sort of sob. Eventually, she sent her boot straight through my face.

My eyes shot open.

Great… another one.

You’ve probably noticed it already. I’ve been getting all sorts of weird dreams over the past month. I knew they were all interconnected, but what had happened on that day felt like a blur.

I decided to shrug it off, staring at my table.

Perhaps… they’re still available.

I sat down at the table, turning on the lamp beside it to reveal the radio in front of me. After switching it on, I placed a headphone over my ears.

“Megurigaoka High School to Nagara Carrier, do you copy?”

Silence followed as I pressed my hand onto my headphones. After a moment of waiting, I could hear the radio crackle.

“What is it…” An American accent responded, “Do you know what time it is right now?”

“I apologize” I responded in English, “I would assume it’s dark for you as well?”

“Was just about to sleep… just tell me what is it”

“The rescue… is it going well?”

His heavy breathing started to become more apparent as I sat.

“Shit… Are you the guy that Hoshi’s been talking about? Just know that he is getting a bit annoyed with you”

“Yeah… but I do have to bring something good to your higher-ups”

“What are you proposing?”

“About the rescue… Can you delay the meeting until June 16th?”

Silence followed on the radio.

“Why the hell on such a specific date?” A small laugh followed, “Do you think we follow the Calendar at this point?”

“Isn’t it beneficial for you guys? You’ve been running your work across the continent to a point where the logistics of your operations seem… blurry. I realized my selfishness and had decided to bring back the time for your sake… just so you won’t be overwhelmed…”

“Damn… congratulations Mr Tanaka! You’ve just learnt patience” A chuckle followed through the radio, “Perhaps I should tell Hoshi”

“Don’t bother… I assume he’s burnt out from the work of managing such a rescue system. It seems Japan isn’t your priority for now…”

“Well… yea. There’s a lot we haven’t picked up yet… remnants of our guys are holding on to the very last. I wish you could see what the map projections are showing right now…”

His voice sounded nervous.

“It is quite a daunting job and I respect it. Since your higher-ups are trying to push for a lot of survivors to be rescued?”

“Yeah… even if we have a nagging one”

“We can hunker down at the school until the rescue arrives”

“We’ll have helicopters ready for you by then. They do expect operations to wrap up in about two months if we are successful”

“Heh” I shrugged, “Well, can you at least guarantee that you’ll pick us up on that day?”

“Mhm” The voice came after a short delay, “I won’t question why you decided to put yourself at the back of the queue, but rest assured you’ll be under our protection”

I couldn’t help but feel a sort of joy inside me.

“Thank you…”

“No problem. Big days in a few months, so don’t get bit and we won’t need to wait. Perhaps you could pull a celebration”

One mere conversation with this American guy and I already liked him.

“I’ve already planned such…”

“My higher-ups will give the go-ahead for someone to pick you up at the rooftop. Don’t expand too far like in those movies unless needed. Follow the instructions of your adults… if you have any”

“Just one. But she’s busy with her diary”

“I see…”

“Anyways, send Hoshi my regards”

“I will…”

“I’ll be signing off for the night… thanks for your response”

“Good luck” The radio frequency turned back to static.

I leaned back in my chair with a smile on my face.

I’m not the best at lying, to be honest.

Rather I’d hide the truth from others unless asked. But one thing I’ve always wanted to get off of my chest was the fact that I’ve started to bend the truth over my entries.

This feeling of building up lie after lie, to a point where even I, the liar, fell for it sometimes, has made me feel guilty. Especially for you who probably trusted what I said.

Yet if I were to confess right now, from how I hid the fact that I discovered my family’s death during the outbreak to the context of those very flashbacks, you’ll never look at me the same way as before.

That’s why I continue to act like this up until this very moment.