“10x magnification. If we look at the cherry blossoms with those, we should be able to check the condition of the branches from here.”
 
“Yeah, let’s try it.”
 
Iwama peered through the binoculars and adjusted the focus with practiced hands.
 
“Let’s see… um… huh? Hmm…”
 
After searching for a while, Iwama lowered the binoculars and held them out to me.
 
“I couldn’t tell if any were broken. Izuta-kun, you look too.”
 
“…No, I’m fine.”
 
There was, how should I put it, some resistance to peering through binoculars that a female classmate had just been looking through.… Read more

“…Hey, which one is the ino no m? There’s supposed to be a pattern that brings happiness, right?”
 
“Come to think of it, there was talk like that.”
 
I said it while pretending not to be interested.
 
“Do you know what kind of pattern an ino no m is, Izuta-kun?”
 
“Uh, no, what was it again…”
 
I hoped it would end ambiguously, but it didn’t go that way. Iwama took out her smartphone and started looking it up.… Read more

“What are you going to do with that?”
 
“I thought I’d take it home and make a pressed specimen or something.”
 
A pressed specimen is, simply put, a specimen where plants are flattened and dried like pressed flowers. I already have a katakuri specimen at home, so I could just throw it away here, but I felt reluctant to do that in front of Iwama. I put the plastic bag back in my backpack.… Read more

“Then since we’re both here, Izuta-kun, want to go see it together?”
 
Iwama happily displayed that “did you see that smile” smile of hers.
 
“Ahh…”
 
“Oh, were you planning to go home already?”
 
“No, it’s not particularly that…”
 
“Then let’s go! We want our high school life to start off well, right!”
 
High school life, starting off well… huh.
 
It was hard to refuse. Or rather, there was no reason to refuse. There was no way I could bring up the romantic success story here and say something like “it would be awkward for the two of us”—I couldn’t possibly say that.… Read more

“Apparently there’s been a major incident.”
 
When Mizusaki says this, it’s usually about something incredibly trivial.
 
“That’s terrible. Let’s hurry home.”
 
I changed my shoes and exited through the entrance. Classes were over, and all that was left was to go home.
 
“Hey hey, you can’t go home. My bad. Are you still mad about lunch break?”
 
“I don’t get angry over something like that. But you were pretty rude to Iwama-san.”… Read more

 
Actually, was she about to say “Mama” just now?
 
Looking at her fingertips holding the lunch box, her nails are neatly trimmed. I wonder if she does martial arts or swimming.
 
…No good, I’m unconsciously observing her. I continue the conversation to sound natural.
 
“Well, if someone can make it for you, that’s fine, isn’t it? Both my parents work in Tokyo and leave early in the morning. So I prepare things myself.”
 
“Oh! I see!… Read more

“A genius-level discovery?”
 
“Yeah. An incredibly miraculous commonality between you, Delta, and Iwama-san. Want to know?”
 
I didn’t particularly want to know, but Mizusaki wanted to talk about it. I jutted my chin to prompt him.
 
“First, recall the origin of the surname Delta.”
 
“Well, my actual surname is Izuta, though.”
 
Delta is a nickname stemming from a certain incident in middle school. There’s no historical background of my ancestors living in the Mississippi Delta or anything.… Read more

Chapter 1: The Domain Cut Out by Light Pink

 
Spring is such a frivolous season.
 
Just when you think lush greenery has suddenly sprung forth from a world that had been dried brown throughout winter, flowers begin popping open here and there. It’s as if the earth’s vitality, suppressed by frost, can no longer contain itself the moment it detects the north wind relenting and comes gushing out.
 
The earliest bloomer is, of course, the plum blossom.… Read more