Some of the cookware was placed randomly around the place last night.

I had assigned Ryu to do the dishes in the meantime, but perhaps he has his way of configuring things.

“Morning Rii-san” Kurumi opened the door, giving a small yawn.

“Good morning Kurumi, you’re up early… Did you sleep much last night?”

“Nah…” She stretched her right arm, “After what Ryu told me yesterday, I’m a bit disturbed”

“You were a bit distracted last night” I grabbed a bowl close to the rice cooker, “Perhaps you should get it off your chest for now”

“So–”

Ryu went inside, followed by a determined Yuki who rushed inside.

“Tag! You're it!” Yuki tapped on Ryu’s blazer.

“Hold up, no running” He turned over, walking slowly, “Besides, what happened to no tagbacks?”

“Wah!” Yuki fell, only to be caught by Ryu.

“You alright Yuki?”

“Yeah… thanks Ryu-kun” She got up.

“Sorry, where were my manners… good morning Yuuri-san”

“Good morning Ryu-kun and Yuki-chan” I gave out a smile.

“Morning Rii-san!” Yuki responded.

“Hey Yuki” Kurumi gave a short yawn before whispering to my ear, “I think it's best we talk outside for now…”

“But what about breakfast? Yuki-chan is probably starving”

“It won’t take too long”

Ryu walked towards us, emitting his usual polite smile.

“Good morning Kurumi”

“Mornin”

“Seems you didn’t sleep tonight. Sorry if my story kept you awake”

“It’s alright” Kurumi placed her shovel over the table, “I had a small candy last night so I couldn’t sleep anyways”

“By the way Yuuri-san” Ryu turned to me, "May I try cooking something for lunch?”

The fact that he bounced back that quickly was astonishing.

“Sure” I smiled, “Would you like my guidance this time?”

“This time I’ll play by the rules”

He seemed to be in a better mood than before.

“Don’t worry, you’ll do great this time”

“Better not mess up this time” Kurumi grabbed a small tennis ball from the table, “I’ll be back soon”

“See you soon Kurumi” I gave a short wave before turning to Ryu, “What did you tell her?”

“What did I say?”

“Something that kept her awake”

“I told her a scary story of a ghost that haunted Megurigaoka”

I noticed Yuki turning over towards us in excitement.

“Ooh! Ghost stories?” Yuki got up from her chair, “What is it?”

“Well” Ryu’s voice became quiet, “Do you remember the really nice lady whose portrait is in the Staff Hall of Fame? The one who used to manage the music class?”

“I do remember her…” said Yuki, “Perhaps we could go down there”

“As you all know, she had passed away” Ryu took a quick look around the room, “But one year ago, I had stayed in my office overnight to set up during the festival but I had overstayed my visit. At around 10 PM, I noticed the eerie sound of a piano playing–”

Yuki was already cowering behind the chair.

“How terrifying!!”

I placed my hand over Ryu’s shoulder.

“Perhaps it's best not to scare Yuki-chan like that. You wouldn’t want to be responsible for two people staying up at night… right?”

“I think you’re scaring Yuki even further” Ryu gave a small amused smirk.

Yuki had cowered behind the chair again after I had placed my hand over his shoulder.

“Perks of a big sister” He walked over towards a cabinet, grabbing his cup, “You develop some sort of aura over it”

“Aura? Isn’t that some sort of spiritual meaning?”

“More like an attribute of yours which fills the atmosphere”

“What he said,” Yuki responded.

“Is that good?”

“Depends on how you see it” Ryu reached for a chair, “But perhaps it's best to have something like that in your life”

“How does it work then?”

“I don’t know” He shrugged, reaching for a piece of hard tack, “Perhaps it comes to you naturally… kinda like magic shows”

“Kinda sounds like it…” I reached for a kitchen spatula.

“I’ll look out for it for you”

Yuki’s stomach growled, creating an awkward silence in the room.

“Can we eat please? I’m starving” Yuki rested her head on the table.

“Don’t worry Yuki-chan” I walked towards the cabinet, grabbing onto a few cans in the box, “I’ll be done in a few minutes”

“I’ll be back” Ryu walked out of the clubroom, “Kurumi wouldn’t want to miss out on breakfast”

“Try not to miss out on breakfast this time”

“I won’t” He dashed down the hallway.

As I continued to work on the breakfast, I noticed a half torn sticky note that had seemingly been placed behind a steel bowl. After a quick moment of getting the items together, I looked over at the note.

Steam M for 20 minutes. Then place it into the pot…

His handwriting was… awful to say the least.

It didn’t make sense. He had some difficulty with the Udon last time. And despite his determination, it’d seem logical for him to not try cooking a wide variety of food.

It also seemed out of character for him. Was he always this ambitious?

“I’m back” Ryu walked over to me, grabbing onto the note I has just holding “Please excuse me, this is something I left behind yesterday”

“Wait hold on! What’s that for?”

“I wanted to try cooking Mochi for dessert but we had quite the late dinner so I decided to call it off. Was wondering where that note went”

“I see…” I looked with interest, “I can teach you it”

“We can’t be skipping steps all of a sudden, let’s focus on today’s lunch”

“Perhaps you’re right” I looked over at the door, “Where’s Kurumi?”

“Right here”

“Alright, breakfast is ready”

Nothing much happened during breakfast. But I noticed that Kurumi had started looking at Ryu more often.

After Yuki and Kurumi left the clubroom, a small rain settled across the field.

“I was hoping it was going to be sunny” I looked over.

Ryu was staring outside at the field while writing something in his notebook. I didn’t know what to make of it, as if he was either concerned or intrigued over it.

“Is everything alright Ryu?”

He did a short nod while continuing his look.

“I know that you like staring into the field, but isn’t it a waste of time?”

“It’s different this time”

“What do you mean?”

The lights in our room started to flicker.

“Should we try checking out the generators?” I looked up at the lights.

“That won’t be necessary… We checked it enough times to confirm we shouldn’t be facing any malfunctions in this weather. The lights should come back soon”

Ryu continued to stare into the field despite explaining something.

“You seem quite obsessed with what’s down there. Can you please tell me what's happening?”

“I got nothing to do”

“Hm, perhaps a bit of math?”

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“No thanks”

“Has anybody ever told you that you’re kinda… lazy?”

“I get that a lot, why?”

“I used to hear from many people that you had always worked proactively during the first year. But now it seems like you’re… letting things happen, why is that the case?”

Ryu turned his head towards me.

“Do you remember the school’s educational philosophy?”

“No”

“The philosophy of independence and autonomy. The reason why I often hang back”

“You seemed very disconnected from the school, that’s why”

“What I do is often a bit secretive. Remember Mio?”

“Of course, I do remember hearing something about her current family condition”

“Mhm. The reason why she was underperforming was because her parents got divorced”

“Oh…”

“I’ll be honest with you” Ryu reached for his book, “She was pretty much a thorn in my side”

“Why’d you say it like that?”

Ryu paused for a moment.

“I needed her to build the club, but she’s really hard to negotiate. Even if I tell her what’s right”

“How can you be sure you were doing the right thing?”

“She lacked the sort of leadership that you possessed. That’s why I pushed you to take initiative with Sensei”

“Thanks… I actually didn’t know you looked up at me”

“Don’t get overconfident. You still have more to learn”

“I know, but I appreciate the compliment” I gave out a smile, “Perhaps you could give me some advice?”

“Maybe later…” Ryu turned over to the door, noticing Kurumi peeking from the door, “Is something wrong?”

“Not really” Kurumi walked over, “Was thinking we could just stop by at the classroom”

“Why’s that?” I looked at her.

“Found a lot of manga to read. Also a fan there”

“Shall we go there then?”

“Sure! Something to kill the time in the morning” Kurumi rested her shovel over her shoulder, “C’mon Ryu”

“Coming over” Ryu adjusted his Blazer, “Yuki has moved to Class 3-A so she should be able to meet us after her classes”

He seemed quite thoughtful of Yuki in most if not all cases.

Ever since Ryu’s conversation with Megu-nee, I couldn’t help but wonder what triggered this side of him.

As we were sitting in the classroom, my eyes wandered between Ryu being focused on his textbook and the housekeeping books.

After a short moment, Ryu closed his textbook.

“That fast already Ryu? Congratulations” I gave a short smile, “Have you checked your answers?”

“Of course” He passed his notebook to me, “Feel free to read”

In such a short span of time, he managed to get through entire chapters like a breeze. Combined with the accuracy of his working out.

“Impressive, I wonder why you weren’t at Class 3-A”

Kurumi took a glance at the book.

“Well, COVID did impact our studies,” said Kurumi.

“I’ll just mention this” Ryu took a quick look at the pages of his textbook, “I was kinda distracted during the first exams which placed me in 3-C”

“That’s surprising, especially for you,” Kurumi flipped through a page.

“It’s a good thing I didn’t fall too low down the ladder. Or else I’d look like a cheater for achieving well now”

“What made you distracted?” I leaned forward in interest.

“Probably Hano”

“Oh right, about Hano… nevermind” Kurumi continued to read her magazine.

“What about her?” I turned over.

“It’s a secret” Ryu emitted a smile, “A secret both of us promised”

“Yeah…” Kurumi nodded.

“Why would you keep it from me?”

“Eh, isn’t that what a friend would do?”

He likes throwing that phrase around…

I looked through the pages of my housekeeping book.

Despite the list of supplies we had, it could only last for about a month. Perhaps even three weeks. What will become of us in a year’s time.

“We don’t have enough electricity”

“Well, it rained a lot,” Kurumi looked up from her book.

“We’re running short on supplies. I think we better go get more stuff”

“We should be fine” Ryu took a quick glance by the door before focusing on his textbook, “We can resort to rationing in the meantime while waiting for the garden”

The door slid open.

“Attention School Life Club!” Yuki ran towards our table, “Let’s go on a test of courage!”

“What?” Kurumi looked at her confused.

“It is great, isn’t it? You go all shaky and throbbing in the school at night!”

“And here I was wondering why she got excited all of a sudden,” Kurumi mumbled.

While the two bickered, I couldn’t understand why she had such a risky idea. Kurumi and Ryu were capable, but after recent events I had decided it was best we stay up here for now.

I looked over at Ryu, who seemed to have emitted a sort of smile as if he was admiring Yuki’s idea.

Does he see something I don’t?

“Don’t worry!” Yuki said with a smug face, “You can defeat ghosts after you go through a special training session with me!”

“Hey you…”

“Well, it does sound like a good idea, doesn’t it?” I chimed in.

“Right?” Yuki turned over.

“It is decided then. We should prepare ourselves”

“Yeah, I’ll help you”

“Yuki-chan, why don’t you go tell Megu-nee”

“Okay” Yuki ran out through the door.

“You sure about this?” Kurumi turned over.

“Yuki-chan? She’ll be fine as long as we look out for her”

“If you say so, then it is okay I guess…” Kurumi got up from her table, “Well I’m out to get a few things for the test of courage, see ya”

“Bye” I waved at Kurumi as she shut the door, “You seem quite optimistic Ryu”

“I know” Ryu closed his textbook, “You’ll find out shortly how this’ll be good for us”

“Why can’t you tell me?”

“It’s best that you see it yourself”

“Well yeah, but…”

I didn’t know how to respond to that.

“Nevermind”

“Anyways, I’m out for the day” Ryu adjusted his tie, “I’ll see you soon for the test of courage”

“See you”

Ryu had a tendency to repeat phrases or sentences he said from years ago into now. As if they were quotes that he stuck with in his life.

I didn’t understand why he’d do such a thing compared to when he was back in middle school.

When I first met Ryu Tanaka during middle school, he had this sort of unforgettable smile and seemed normal as a student.

He was bright, beyond anything I’ve seen that he could’ve easily waltzed through any test without having a study.

Unfortunately, he had lost that spark upon entering high school.

Close to the end of my first year examinations, I had started to notice the uproar among the students. It wasn’t once in a blue moon, but with the scale of how people ran around gossiping and whispering, it seemed as if somebody had triggered something worse.

“By the way Yuuri-san” A girl from the Horticulture Club named Kita Misaki ran over, “Did you get my message over what had happened?”

“I was busy with bringing my little sister to class, what happened?”

“So there are rumors surrounding a few third year boys right now”

“Why’s that causing such an uproar?” I looked around the hallway, “That happens frequently, right?”

“Yeah but the fact that one of them had a crush on a teacher isn’t worth just ignoring! If I was him, I’d move to the other side of the country”

“Where does all of this information come from?”

“A few group chats with some students. I don’t know where most of the information came from”

Kita looked over, before waving towards a student approaching us.

“Hey Tanaka-kun!”

At the time, Ryu seemed to have a sort of gloomy yet serious personality. But this time, he seemed to be happy for once.

“Good morning Wakasa and Misaki-san” Ryu responded, “Do you need me for something?”

“Not really, I wanted to ask you about the information you posted in the group chats”

Hm?

It seemed surprising that he would ever be in a few school online group chats. Nonetheless participate in spreading this information.

“Ryota hm?” Kita now ran down the hallway, “Lemme go ask him then!”

“Go ahead”

“See you in class Yuuri”

“Bye” Kita ran off.

“No running in the class– ah whatever” Ryu gave a small smirk.

“You seem ecstatic today” I looked at him with my arms crossed.

“Apologies, I don’t often feel weird after accidentally being involved in spreading rumors”

“I see…” I looked over at a small group near the hallway, “Well, we make mistakes all of the time”

“Hopefully the school does something about it”

“Yeah, I’m quite sure the general consensus is nobody wants to have rumors spread about them”

“From what I heard, those guys who are getting rumors about them were apparently a bunch of cyber bullies”

Despite not realizing it up until now, Ryu had basically defended whoever started the rumors.

“Huh, is that true?”

“There are pictures of one of the guys making out with a first year. So I’m sure that Ryota have such confidence to do such with evidence” Ryu stuffed his hands inside his pockets, “Well, I’ll tell Ryota to stop since I don’t want this to escalate further”

“Hold on” I grabbed onto Ryu’s arm, “I know you’re a smart kid. I’m not buying the fact that you accidentally spread it”

It wasn’t that I didn’t buy it, but also the fact that Ryu had a friend at the time. I barely see him talk with Ryota who seemed to be a more social and outgoing individual so it seemed quite contradictory.

“I do make mistakes” Ryu shrugged, “I’m sure everybody does”

“I’m kinda scared of how the teachers would respond.

“They’ve handled this type of issue before, but their response is rather limited. I’ll probably have to oversee this matter”

“But, you were involved”

“By accident. I’ve already discussed with a few staff members and they understand my mistake and my attempts to rid it online”

“Wow, that’s quite responsible of you”

“Well, nobody wants to get in trouble, right?”

“I hate to push you like this, but how can you just tell me if anybody else could get impacted like this?”

“It’s best that you see it yourself”

“That’s a weird way to respond to it”

“Sometimes if you can’t respond to something, you can always divert the question. That’s my mindset”

“Interesting…” I took a quick glance at the clock, “I better be going to class”

“Bye”

It was one of the rare interactions I had with Ryu before the third year, although our discussions later on were mainly of a serious matter considering my status in the Horticulture Club later on.

The rumors eventually ended close to the end of our first year. Ryota never got in trouble for some reason. The ‘investigation’ had turned inconclusive.

Perhaps the teachers didn’t want any issue near the end of the year. Or someone had played something behind the scenes.

It was quite the mystery.