Chapter 3: The Camphor Doesn’t Speak
Iwama became the class’s most popular person in the blink of an eye.
Just watching her take charge during homeroom was enough to see her intelligence and resourcefulness. With the title of class representative as her shield, she took on every task without showing even a speck of fatigue—monstrous stamina. And above all, she had a cherry-blossom-like charm that attracted people regardless of gender.
If you asked the class to point at their representative on the count of three, thirty-nine out of forty students in Class 1-C would undoubtedly point at Iwama. The remaining one—Iwama herself—would probably think for a few milliseconds before pointing at the other class representative. He was quite the good guy too, but unfortunately no match for Iwama.
From the back corner by the hallway to the center of the classroom. This was a metaphorical expression—there had been no seat changes—but in reality, Iwama no longer stayed quietly at her own desk.
Naturally, the opportunities for Iwama and me to exchange words decreased. Even so, every morning she still cheerfully called out “Good morning!” to me, and when I passed her handouts, she’d whisper “Thanks.” That much hadn’t changed. But somehow, I found further interaction painful, and contrary to before, I started going over to Mizusaki’s seat more often.
In the end, I never really understood what Iwama decided about club activities. After the conversation we had just before the new student welcome period began, Iwama and I never talked about choosing clubs again.
Since then, I’d seen that girl who appeared to be her middle school friend come to the classroom and relay something to Iwama. They waved at each other saying something like “See you after school again,” so her heart was probably settling on the basketball club.
That time we climbed the back mountain together to see the cherry blossoms must have been something like an illusion.
Or perhaps a rare collision—about as rare as two butterflies bumping foreheads.
While Iwama often stood up front to speak, unless it was math class, she never carelessly used words like “uniqueness,” nor did she give orders like “Split into groups and discuss… scientifically!”
I wonder if she properly threw away that dirt-covered katakuri in the dirty plastic bag. While I felt bad if she’d awkwardly kept it somewhere out of consideration, I had no way to confirm.
The last exchange in my LINE history with Iwama remained that photo business.
“Come to think of it, you haven’t talked with Iwama-san lately.”
In the middle of eating lunch, Mizusaki suddenly said something like that. His gaze was directed toward Iwama, who was chatting on the nearly opposite side of the classroom. Mizusaki’s seat was in the back by the window.
“If you’re curious, why don’t you go talk to her?”
“Nah, it’s tough unless Delta’s with Iwama-san. You know, I’m basically socially awkward, so it’s hard to talk to her without a reason.”
He seemed to be indirectly saying “Delta, you haven’t been with Iwama-san lately, have you?” A completely unnecessary observation.
“Don’t count on me. Once there’s a seat change, we probably won’t have any connection anymore.”
“But Delta-kun.”
The one who responded wasn’t Mizusaki but Mikage Aya in the seat in front. She turned around holding a hand-rolled sushi.
“I heard from a certain source that the other day, Delta-kun and Iwama-san were spotted climbing the back mountain together, getting along well.”
“Huh, seriously?! Such a major incident?”
Both of them were playing dumb. Mizusaki was fully aware that it was the result of his own scheming, and Mikage’s “certain source” was almost certainly her brother, Mikage-senpai.
When I glared at him, Mizusaki blatantly changed the subject.
“Speaking of which, there’s also intel that someone who looked like Iwama-san was spotted at the new bookstore in the central shopping district.”
“Well, Iwama-san would stop by a bookstore at least.”
“When I was gathering info on cute girls from other classes, I heard that someone saw a super cute girl in our school uniform at the bookstore. It’s only a matter of time before Iwama Rio becomes known to the world.”
How can he talk about cute girls in front of a girl?
“So that person didn’t know about Iwama-san?”
Mikage also asked Mizusaki with an interested look. True, if they’d already known Iwama’s face, they wouldn’t have used the expression “in our school uniform.”
“Right, right. When I asked for details, it sounded a lot like Iwama-san. They said the class badge was 1-C. Plus the skirt was knee-length, and she had a ponytail.”
I kept facing Mizusaki but moved only my eyes to indicate Mikage. Mikage also wore her skirt a bit longer than knee-length, and though a different type, had a ponytail. If this continued, he’d implicitly be claiming “Mikage isn’t super cute”—that was my warning.
“Oh, and what was it they said… something about a smile like blooming flowers…”
Hearing that, Mikage showed an uncharacteristically cheerful smile.
“Well then, it might be Iwama-san after all.”
If she was deliberately teasing Mizusaki, I’d definitely support it.
Mizusaki panicked at Mikage’s smile.
“S-so, what was it… oh right, she was apparently chatting happily with a short girl. A girl with headphones around her neck.”
I see. In that case—
“If that’s the situation, then it’s uniquely determined to be Iwama-san.”
Mikage’s statement took into account the girl who hardly talked to anyone but Iwama.
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Kannabi Rei was a girl who radiated a dark aura.
Descriptions like plain or inconspicuous didn’t apply. It wasn’t such a thin impression, but rather as if she wore a jet-black curtain that kept people away.
Small and slender. Her black hair was cut straight around her neck, with long bangs covering her eyes. On top of that, she always looked down a bit, so her face wasn’t very visible.
From morning homeroom until the teacher arrived, and after the teacher left during the end-of-day homeroom, Kannabi Rei wore headphones. Though she only hung them around her neck while inside the school, she apparently wore them on her ears during her commute to and from school. They functioned like a talisman, and no one bothered to talk to her.
Except for one person—Iwama Rio.
Kannabi Rei’s attendance number was one after Iwama’s, so her classroom seat was in the second row from the hallway in the very front. You couldn’t say it was close to Iwama in the very back. Even so, the reason Iwama often went to talk to Kannabi Rei was probably because there was no one around Kannabi Rei. The class representative’s consideration, so to speak. Probably.
Neither I, whose attendance number was close, nor Mizusaki, who was relatively socially competent, had ever conversed with Kannabi Rei.
There was simply no reason to talk. There should never have been any conversation scheduled going forward either, but—
On Friday afternoon, as the week when the new new club recruitment period was lifted came to an end.
That Kannabi Rei suddenly appeared in the biology room for some reason.
Mizusaki and I had experienced the strange welcome event on Monday, and on Tuesday we submitted our applications to join the biology club. The poster in front of the biology room stated that the club’s basic activity days were Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. So we tried to show up on Wednesday, but the biology room wasn’t even unlocked, and Tokumura-sensei was absent due to a staff meeting. When we visited the biology room again on Friday, Kannabi Rei was sitting there alone.
“Huh? Kannabi Rei-san?”
Mizusaki, who opened the door, reacted first. Kannabi Rei looked at us and seemed like she was going to say something, but—
“…Ah, aah… um, uh…”
After moving her mouth like that, she ended up saying nothing and looked down again.
Since she was in the biology room at this time, she was probably interested in the biology club, but just sitting there, it was hard to tell.
The ears peeking slightly through her black hair were bright red. To put it nicely, she was shy; to put it badly, socially awkward. Setting me aside, Mizusaki was relatively talkative, but even he couldn’t find the right words to say to this kind of person at a time like this.
“Excuse us.”
He ended up just giving a strangely formal greeting.
Tokumura-sensei was away from school for work today too. Consequently, an extremely awkward situation arose with just the three of us—Mizusaki, Kannabi Rei, and me—in the biology room.
Incidentally, Karato-senpai, the only upperclassman, never showed up for activities. In fact, I’d never even seen her. According to Tokumura-sensei, the senpai took care of the living creatures in the morning and during lunch break, then left right away after school.
Though Kannabi Rei wasn’t wearing her headphones on her ears, she sat silently, continuing to write something in a notebook. I wasn’t sure if it was okay to talk to her. In that situation, Mizusaki and I resumed our discussion about optical isomers, trying to avoid creating a wake-like atmosphere.
But naturally, neither Mizusaki nor I thought this was okay.
“I know, let’s do self-introductions.”
After the parakeet cried “So lonely…” and a looseness arose in the air, Mizusaki declared this and stood up, wedging in his statement. Good timing. I nodded in agreement.
“Name is Izuta Sho. My best subject is biology, and my worst subject is math. Since Izuta is written with characters ‘deru’ (出) meaning ‘exit’ and ‘ta’ (田) meaning ‘rice field,’ close friends call me Delta. I’d be happy if you called me Delta too!”
Kannabi Rei turned toward us and froze. While we’d certainly succeeded in getting her attention, that attention was more along the lines of “what is this guy saying?”
The room fell silent. Only the parakeet responded with a snorting laugh-like cry.
“Why did Mizusaki just introduce me?”
At my protest, Mizusaki said casually:
“Huh? Isn’t that more interesting?”
Unfortunately, however, Kannabi Rei wasn’t laughing at all.
“—Setting that farce aside, I’m Mizusaki Ryuichi. I hope to become a guide who pulls this club along with my outstanding sense of humor. Nice to meet you!”
Kannabi Rei didn’t move.
“Well, since ‘Mizusaki’ is pretty hard to say, you can call me Ryuichi if you want.”
No one reacted anymore. After a brief pause:
“Hey, why is Delta introducing me?”
Mizusaki lightly tapped my head.
“I didn’t.”
“Really?”
I didn’t have the sense to introduce myself as if I were Mizusaki, much less the sense to make puns with family names or try to get a girl I’d barely met to call me by my first name.
The atmosphere in the biology room seemed completely finished thanks to the outstanding sense of humor.
What are you going to do about this?
“Uh… heh.”
I heard a sound, so I looked at Kannabi Rei.
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