Beginnings are born from a single end. Therefore, there is no such thing as starting from zero.
I'm trying to sound like a quote from a great man, but what I'm trying to say is simply that the winter break is over. It is simply that the end of winter break has created a new school day.
I knew that I would have a hard time on the first day of school if I didn't wake up earlier and earlier, but I couldn't overcome my greed and stayed up late and had a morning with little time to spare. Waking up early is an eternal challenge.

I felt that my uniform was tighter than usual after a long time. It is natural to feel this way after wearing loose-fitting everyday clothes for a few dozen days. As I was sloppily changing and heading out the door, my sister stopped me and made me put my tie back on. I was so impressed by her feminine power. Please show up soon, beautiful girl who looks like my sister.

I haven't been to class since last year.
After the summer vacation, you can see her tanning and other changes, but in winter, not much has changed. If I may say so, there are a few students who have turned white like snowflakes.
They take their seats and throw their textbooks and other materials into their desks. It is sad to think that we will have to say goodbye to these textbooks next school year. Textbooks that used to give me a headache gradually become attached to me. It's a complete lie. I want to burn them.

Graduation, which will come in about a year, is becoming a reality. In a year, we will start going our own ways and gradually drift apart from those we have grown accustomed to. I think that the majority of the classmates will not see each other again after that turning point.
At this moment, you will understand how valuable this space is without having to explain it. And how miraculous it is. If I had failed this high school, I would never have met these people. Makoto, Tsuru, Alina.
Maybe I would have met someone at another school. Maybe I would have joined a club, worked out with my friends, and spent my youth riding my bicycle in the evening sun after school. It is the best scene I can imagine.

If there was a button that could rewind time by three years, would you press it? Suppose you could choose to keep or erase your memories.
Some people might press the button without hesitation. Some might press the button to save a loved one who died in an accident. Some might press the button to remember the winning numbers for three years and to win the lottery. For each of these reasons, they will rewind three great years of time and achieve a higher level of happiness. I am sure that most of them will succeed in most things.

So, can I push it now?

If I could erase my memories, I would have no regrets for the relationships that have been reset, for the events that have been rewound, for the memories that have been erased, for the body that has returned to its original state. Because I don't remember the last three years. He is not even aware that he has come from the future. It is as if nothing has been lost. If he keeps his memories, he can pretend to be a soothsayer, and he can get rid of the regrets that are dragging him down. You may repeat the same thing. I just hope the world is not predetermined by fatalism.
But I'm confident that I wouldn't push it even if someone offered me 100 million yen. That's how valuable this time is for me, irreplaceable time. The meeting of people cannot be bought with money, and it is not destiny. I believe that everything is a miracle of coincidence.

This is your last year, so cherish it. Do not waste it.

Akemae

Rear Makoto's New Year's greetings. Surprisingly, he looked sleepy. Unusual for a morning person.

Koto yoro. You look very sleepy. Don't take sleeping pills too much. There's a chance of death from poisoning.
'I've never taken it. I haven't been to school in a long time, so I was nervous and couldn't sleep much.
'What are you, a kindergartener before a field trip?
'At least rank me up to junior high school student before the school trip: ....... Comet looks as sleepy as ever.'
'It's a brain that needs thirteen hours of sleep a day. I'm in sleep debt every day. I'm going to go bankrupt eventually.
'What happens when you go bankrupt?'
'I'm going to die.'
It's not good. You'd better go to bed now ......'
'So far I've been able to pay it off on weekends, so I'm fine.'

Well, I don't care how I sleep. I'm worried about Alina. I haven't heard from her since New Year's, and I've been worried inside. I couldn't help but feel anxious when she talked to me like that. I've been fidgety, and I've opened my contacts several times to call her, but I never pressed the button. Part of it was embarrassment, part of it was fear of hearing the worst case scenario. There was also the fear of not being connected.
I left the classroom just before the morning homeroom started and entered the next class.

I went into the next class.

Alina was there. My breath leaked out sloppily.
She was wearing a school coat, hands in her pockets, hunched over and hunched down. She seemed to be very cold, judging from the way she had a scarf wrapped around half of her face.

'Yo. Are you cold?
'I don't want to see your face in the morning.
'You're acting normal. I'm glad you're all right.'
'Do I look like I'm doing okay? It's too cold. How can you people not be cold? How stiff is your hair?
'That's a very hurtful thing for a girl to hear.
'For crying out loud. Are you going to cover the world in useless hair? I said, ''
'I still look more feminine than you.
'I'll shatter your femur.

I wasn't scared at all because he was just mumbling under his scarf. His right hand, which punched my side, was tucked in his pocket because of the cold, and his shiny white legs, wrapped in black tights, were freezing cold as he stomped my toes.
The harmless, tongue-tied Alina is nothing but a loud-mouthed work of art.



'So, what happened after that?
'What's that?
'...... about your father.'
'No. He's not here. What, you're worried about me?
'I was worried about you as much as anyone, but okay. Good, good, good.'
'Hmm. You're getting good at being a slave these days.
'You'll rebel one day, so wash that neck and wait for me.

I was relieved.
Alina's venomous tongue was actually quite pleasant. If she had sounded weak and shy, I would have been very upset.
Just as I was about to return to the classroom, someone grabbed my left shoulder. He pushed me away from him forcefully. A familiar male student stepped in between me and Alina. I don't think we've ever talked before, as we've only passed each other in the hallway. But his rude behavior made even me, a gentleman, a little uncomfortable.

'Alina-san! I've always loved you since freshman year!''

It was a live confession, a rarity in this day and age. It is a passionate confession that confronts head-on the rejection of young people who express their feelings through information terminals. And in a classroom. In front of many classmates.
A moment later, the classroom fell silent. The volume of his confession was loud. So loud that I wanted to put an earphone jack in his mouth.
Alina's reaction to receiving such a passionate confession of love from the first day did not change even a single color of her face.

I'm being a little loud," she said. I'm talking to the guy over there, can you not interrupt me? I don't want anyone who doesn't have common sense. Go back to your barn and eat your hay.

That's the way it's gonna be. It's so sad. To be treated like a cow by the girl you love. If you're a man of particular proclivities, the abuse might be a reward, but not him.
His pride was hurt, and he was in a foul mood.

What's so good about Sakakiki? What's wrong with this guy! I thought you were dating after all!

Yeah. ....... You're a total buzzkill. .......
I heard Yuri laughing behind me. I turned around and gestured to her to comfort her, but she kept her mouth shut and pretended not to know. Shirana looked away from me, but her shoulders were shaking slightly, as if she was amused.

'Take it easy, take it easy. Have a cup of coffee or something. Oh, caffeine is a stimulant, isn't it?
'Sakaki-ki. Don't dawdle. You'll never be a match for Alina.
'I'm not trying to be coy. I don't think we're even close. Come on, I'm going home.

I patted him on the shoulder and reenacted the 'let's take it easy' kind of friendship scene seen in foreign dramas.
But he brushed my hand away. Hardly hard. Then he pushed my chest. If I had been a girl, this would have been an indefensible act of molestation. I should have made a sweet, "No," sound. I guess it doesn't matter, because there's no demand for it.
After a little attack, I realized that he really thought of me as an enemy. I staggered back with an 'oops' and left it at that. I don't want to fight. I'd win. Oh, no, he'll kill me.

Slap!

Alina stood up and slapped him!
Don't get me wrong, it was not to me, but to him who told Alina!
He didn't slap me, the outlet for his violence, he did it to him!
I was more surprised that the target was not me than the act of slapping.
Silence for the second time today.
He cracked his eyes and stroked his swollen cheek. She looked down at him contemptuously, shriveled like a lamb. Cruelly, Alina was taller.

'Get out of my way.

Alina raised the angle of her eyebrows and said in a chilling voice, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Then the man walked out of the classroom as if his soul had been drained from him.
Yuri, Shirana, and Ran were all surprised to see Arina, who had calmed down, get really pissed off for the first time in a long time. The class resumed chatting awkwardly, trying to restore the atmosphere.
She took her seat with a gasp and rewrapped her messy scarf.

'What's his name?
'Eh. Oh, I don't know. I think we were a couple. ......
'Oh. That's a pain in the ass.
'Are you trying to catch up?'
No, it's not. I have to write my real name in the notebook.'
'?
Oh, God.

Alina scribbled on her notepad in a tedious manner.

The list of confessions, you know, the notebook.

'Ahhh ....... Naruheso.'

She was recording the confessions for the angel Alina. I don't know what for.
She was in a bad mood and her homeroom teacher was about to arrive, so I decided to fade out. I felt bad for the three classes that I had inconvenienced by my presence.



I'm going home. Calm your mind.

She closed her eyes, wrinkled her brow, and nodded.
I'm sorry about the three groups of people. .......




'You're having dinner with me after all, aren't you?

The morning was lost in the opening ceremony after the vacations, and it was time for lunch. I thought Makoto was going to have a lovey-dovey dinner with Ryuka, but she came to my desk in a natural way.

'It's awkward, so I'm going to .......
'Why not?
'I didn't get a chance to call you once over winter break. ......'
'I see. I'll take it.'

To be clear, I didn't care about Makoto's love life anymore. I only care about how far they've come, but other than that, I'm not interested anymore. If I liked Ryuka, I would care about her. Unfortunately, I don't.

'Also, I've heard rumors about ......'
'There are a lot of rumors about this school. Who in the world is manipulating the information?
'I heard Comet was beaten up by Nippa.'
'I wasn't hit.
'Really? Oh, there's certainly no blood, and there don't seem to be any broken bones.
'Who really started the rumor about Comet Sakakiki sandbagging? I sense a conspiracy.
'Oh, no, it's not. I thought you had a fight.
'It wasn't me, it was the guy who told Alina that got slapped. Harder.
When?
'In the morning. After your little chat.
'That's what happened after that ......'

It was as powerful as a sanctioned slap to a cheating husband, and I can still see it in my mind's eye. It was such a powerful swing that it hurt me to watch. The timing of the slap made no sense to me, but he is a kind of a clueless guy, so it would be futile to try to understand him.

'Oh, and there's one more rumor: ......'
There really are a lot of rumors. I doubt if there is any truth in this school anymore.
'Mr. Akakusa might be transferred.'
''Heh?''

Mr. Akakusa is transferred?
What do you mean, transferred?
Move?
What, you're moving three meters?
Like a residential move?
A well?
You're not a well, are you, Mr. White?
Move, move, move?

After that.
I apparently froze with my chopsticks on an omelet until I regained consciousness.