The cold gradually subsides and spring comes quietly. As the cherry blossoms on both sides of Lake Biwa bloom one after another, it is early April in a flash.
Spring is bright and the new semester has begun.
"Kirino."
"What?"
On a clear morning on a rickety and crowded train, Yoshiaki Sotani held the armrest and gestured to Akane Kirino who was sitting in front of her.
"hair."
"Eh?"
She touched her head, "Is something wrong? I obviously checked before going out..."
Starting today, sixteen-year-old Kirino Akane will officially become a high school student.
For this reason, she even made a special trip to a beauty salon in Kyoto to have her hair carefully trimmed.
Although from Soya's point of view, there hasn't been much change.
"No, there's nothing wrong with the hair...I'm talking about the hair."
The girl sitting next to her motioned for her to lower her head, glanced left and right, and quickly picked a pink petal from her hair.
"It's cherry blossoms."
Kirino Akane took the petals and said, "Sogu saw it, why don't you just take it off?"
After saying that, she blew lightly and blew the petals onto him.
"..."
The pink cherry blossom petals stuck to the dark blue uniform jacket and did not fall off for a while, becoming a bright embellishment.
"It's stained with saliva."
"No!"
Akane Kirino wears a uniform jacket of the same style as him on the upper body, a sailor suit underneath, and a gray and crimson plaid skirt on the lower body;
The same was true for Asagiri Suzu and "ordinary friend" Yoshikawa Anko, who were sitting on her left and right respectively. The four of them were first-year freshmen at the private Dankai High School.
Yoshikawa Anko, a girl with short hair and glasses, was Akane Kirino's classmate for three years at middle school.
After confirming that she was successfully admitted to Dankai High School, Akane Kirino also put aside the slight conflict she had had some time ago, and their relationship with her became close again.
Since he lived not far away, Yoshikawa kept coming to see Kirino Akane during the spring break.
Soya lives in the Kirino family's old house and sees him a lot. When Kirino Akane goes to order uniforms, she will drag him and Asagiri Suzu along with her. After going back and forth, he naturally becomes familiar with her.
At this time, he noticed her frequent glances.
"Is there anyone Yoshikawa knows over there?"
"Eh... um."
Yoshikawa nodded, "My middle school classmate. In the third grade, I was in the same class as Akane."
"Yeah."
Kirino Akane also looked in the direction where she had been looking just now, "Is that the girl who was reading?"
"That's right."
"It looks familiar...but I can't remember the name."
"...Tirino just graduated a few days ago."
Zong Gu still remembers the day of her middle school graduation ceremony, when she cried so hard that no one could remember her in the blink of an eye.
"I wasn't very familiar with it at that time." Kirino Akane looked up and smiled, "And I am a forward-looking person."
Zonggu picked off the petals and held them on his fingertips without saying anything else. He also liked to look forward.
Outside the car window in front of me, the flat lake in the distance is like a mirror, the mountains are looming, and the nearby scenery gradually slows down in retreat.
"Omi Naniwa Station, we've arrived——"
...
Located on the top of a hillside, the private Danhai High School is quite large and has all the internal facilities.
Entering from the main entrance of the school, you will see two five-story teaching buildings in front of you, connected by a corridor.
The building on the right is the main building where students attend daily classes. The classrooms for thirty classes from grades one to three are all in this building;
The opposite building is a special building that houses music classrooms, multimedia classrooms and art classrooms, with a domed observatory at the end of one side.
Passing through the atrium between the two teaching buildings and going straight along the inverted T-shaped corridor is the auditorium. The playground is on the other side directly facing the main building, and to the north is the swimming pool.
Soya did not take the entrance exam. This was the first time he walked into Danhai High School. He stood there and stared for a while before walking to the notice board where Akane Kirino and others were.
"Did you find it?"
"..."
Kirino Akane, who was resting on her feet, looked back at him with an unhappy expression.
"What's wrong?"
"See for yourself."
Soya's height advantage came into play at this time. Standing outside the crowd, he could still see the notice board inside. He glanced at it and found the "Asagiri Bell" at the forefront of Class A.
Looking further down, the name "Sotani Yoshiaki" is also listed, followed by "Yoshikawa Anko".
——Only there is no "Kirino Akane".
"I'm in Class B..."
He glanced aside and found that it was indeed the case.
"it's a pity."
"Zong Gu, who came in through connections, must have squeezed out the quota that originally belonged to me."
After all, it is a private school, and the admission method is not limited to examinations, it is very flexible.
"I got the admission notice one day before the entrance exam."
"That's Soya!"
"I think Ling is more likely. After all, she is a girl."
"..."
Chaogiri Ling was still standing silently outside the crowd, not pushing through.
Kirino Akane looked at him faintly for a while and sighed again.
"Forget it, luckily I'm in the next class."
"Yeah."
In the corner of the notice board, the classroom location map is blocked by the head in front, and it can't be seen even if it is tall. "Where is the classroom?"
"The first-grade classrooms are concentrated on the fourth and fifth floors of the main building. Class A and Class B are both on the fourth floor."
Soya hoped she was wrong.
"Every morning I have to climb hundreds of steps and then climb to the fourth floor..."
"Every evening, I have to go down to the fourth floor first, and then go down hundreds of steps."
"...Stop talking."
After walking into the main building and climbing up to the fourth floor, several people were temporarily separated at the back door of Class A and the front door of Class B. Akane Kirino refused to enter the classroom.
"Sogu..."
"What?"
"Can you let your backstage connections transfer me to Class A?"
"Come in quickly."
"I'm the only one left out!"
The blackboard in front of the classroom lists everyone's seats. Soya's seat is in the back corner, next to the window, while Asagiri Suzu's seat is at the front of the row, seemingly arranged according to height.
"Oops, it turns out there are handsome guys in Class A... You are really tall."
As soon as Soya sat down, the boy in front of him turned around and said, "I'm Fushimi Keisuke, I came from Higashikata. What about you?"
"Yoshiaki Sotani."
He paused and said, "I used to be from Qingzhong."
"Qingzhong?"
Fushimi Keisuke thought for a while, he had never heard of this school before, "Where's the middle school? It's on the east side of (Lake Biwa)?"
"Northeastern."
"Eh?"
"The school over in Sendai."
"Sendai...Miyagi? Wow, you ran really far."
Zong Gu smiled, and the two of them seemed to know each other.
Entering school, making new friends, getting to know more people... Saying goodbye to school life for more than two years, it seems that I am gradually getting back on track.
A moment later, a middle-aged man with a round figure walked into the classroom from the front door and stopped on the podium;
When Souya's attention was focused on him again, he began to introduce himself.
"I am Shibazaki Makoto, and in the next year..."
Fushimi leaned back, his low voice filled with regret.
"I thought it would be a younger female teacher... Sure enough, in high school, I still have no luck with women."
"...Can teachers also be included?"
"That's great."
He turned his head and said, "I also want to have the confidence to be picky like Soya-kun. You must have had many girlfriends."
"No...I don't have much luck with women either."
"Who believes it?"
"..."
Zonggu shook his head, and the initial introduction as a teacher on the podium ended there.
"It's almost time. Let's go to the auditorium to attend the entrance ceremony."
Students in Class A walked out of the classroom one after another, as did other first-grade classes on the same floor.
"Zonggu, I'm a little nervous..."
Yoshikawa Anko walked through the crowd and walked to Soya and Fushimi. She put her hand on her chest and said, "I feel like I can't breathe."
"Relax, a few minutes will go by quickly."
"Why."
She sighed, glanced at Fushimi who was looking straight at her, and walked forward again.
"Sotani-san, she is..."
"Soya!"
Kirino Akane squeezed over from the team of Class B, "Transfer me to Class A quickly!"
"Stop joking."
"My seat is in the front row! Oh my god..."
She grabbed Soya's arm and complained, but was soon discovered by the teacher in Class B and called back.
Fushimi turned his head and looked behind him for a long time.
"I said, Soya-san..."
"bell?"
"..."
He turned around, and there was another petite girl with a delicate face beside Zonggu.
Asagiri Suzu said nothing, waited for him, and followed him to the auditorium.