[chapter 161 is missing]
[Yare yare, it's already been a week since the new semester started. Compared to that, why do I feel like school life is actually more comfortable and relaxed than summer vacation life was?]
Saiki scratched his head, a little unable to understand. He had even gotten used to days filled with constant busyness, yet not knowing what he was busy with.
[By all logic, I shouldn't be able to live this relaxed. How could the heavens possibly let me unwind like this? Mm… whatever.]
Saiki walked slowly down the hallway toward the classroom, his clear footsteps carrying a sense of leisurely ease.
Only when he reached the doorway did his steps suddenly slow. Saiki opened the door at a measured pace, passed his previous seat, and sat down at the back by the window. Then he turned his gaze outside.
(That's right, we changed seats again. It was the usual lottery draw. I planned to just pick randomly since it didn't matter, but I ended up with this window-side spot. I have a bad feeling about this, but things have actually been pretty peaceful lately.)
"Saiki, Saiki, you're here! Let me tell you, yesterday I ran into something super funny. Do you want to know?"
Akazawa Itsuki came over laughing gleefully.
(What the? It's just Annoying Pest No. 1.)
[Not interested.]
"Alright, since you're so interested, I'll tell you!"
[If I remember correctly, what I said was that I'm not interested.]
But Akazawa Itsuki seemed not to have heard Saiki at all and just kept going on his own. "So listen, listen, yesterday I asked where to go hang out, right? I went to this river near my house to fish, and something hilarious happened."
[Save the jokes for later. Finish your homework first!]
"Forget that, let me tell you, it was a mother pig lining up and falling into the ditch, hahahaha…"
Saiki opened his mouth but for a moment didn't know what to say.
(This feels like something I've heard somewhere before!)
"But that's not even the end. After that I ran into other funny stuff…"
Akazawa Itsuki kept telling jokes on his own while Saiki occasionally responded with a word or two, all the while staring out the window.
(Why does break time feel so long this time?)
"Wow!!"
Just as Saiki was still lost in thought, a shout pulled him back to reality.
Saiki snapped out of it and looked for the source of the sound. To his left, a yellow figure came flying toward him.
Ah, no, it was Kitagawa Marin, who looked like she'd been thrown into the air and was flying in his direction. No, literally flying, as in the words themselves.
This stunned even Akazawa Itsuki, who was in the middle of storytelling. He blurted out a curse: "Holy crap! Airplane!!"
(This isn't…)
"Bam!!"
The impact rang out as Kitagawa Marin's head collided with Saiki's desk.
"Ow!!"
Kitagawa Marin sat on the floor, clutching the part of her head that had hit the desk.
Kitagawa Marin's picture →
Shikimori: "Kitagawa, are you okay?!"
"Probably, maybe, roughly okay."
(So is that okay or not okay?)
Shikimori came over, pressed down on Kitagawa Marin's head, parted her hair, and saw there was no blood or open wound, just a bit of redness. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief.
Shikimori: "Looks like you're fine, but it's a little red."
"Speaking of which, Kitagawa's head is really tough. Nothing happened even after that!"
Akazawa Itsuki exclaimed from the side. He'd been genuinely scared earlier, thinking an actual airplane was coming. The way she'd flown in that pose was terrifying.
Kitagawa Marin: "Hehe, my head's the hardest part of my body. Back when I used to fall and hit my head all the time and had to rush to find medicine, now I just bring some to school ahead of time ❛˓◞˂̵✧"
(Start by learning not to fall in the first place!)
Shikimori: "Seriously, be more careful next time. Did you really have to do a backflip in the classroom?!"
Kitagawa Marin stuck out her little fist, tapped her head, and stuck out her tongue. "Sorry, sorry! But it's because I saw you do it earlier, Shikimori, so I wanted to try practicing too!"
Kitagawa Marin held her head and looked at Saiki beside her, asking with concern: "Saiki-kun, are you okay? Did I hit you just now?"
[I'm fine.]
"Really nothing at all?"
Kitagawa Marin looked worried. Then she placed both hands on Saiki's shoulders and leaned in close, scanning his face.
[Even if you're worried I got hurt, I didn't hit my face earlier. No need to check my face!]
"Oh, right! Then let me see your hand."
Kitagawa Marin grabbed Saiki's hand, looking left and right. Seeing nothing?
After finding no wounds, under Shikimori's still-shocked gaze, she slid his sleeve up.
(No need for that.)
"Saiki-kun, is your hand scraped? It's hurt!"
[No way!]
(How could it be scraped? Even if it had hit me, there's no way I'd get injured from something like that. Even if a missile exploded nearby, I'd activate my barrier. No chance of getting hurt.)
Saiki firmly believed that on this Earth, at least, no one could harm him.
He'd even once said something chuunibyou and domineering: The only thing that can hurt me is myself.
(Damn it, bad memory again!)
"Ah, but this…"
There was a reddish mark on Saiki's arm that looked like a scrape. Kitagawa Marin crouched down, gently touched it, and looked up at him: "Does it hurt?"
Saiki saw the "wound" and thought for 0.2 seconds before remembering where it came from.
[This is just paint from art class earlier.]
"Oh, I see! Good that you're okay!"
Kitagawa Marin let out a relieved breath. Even if it was just a small injury, she didn't want to hurt someone because of her own carelessness.
Saiki looked at Kitagawa Marin, who was now smiling brightly at him, and gave her a reminder.
[Shouldn't you be paying more attention to your own head at a time like this?]
"Thanks for worrying. I'll put some medicine on later. I…"
Only then did Kitagawa Marin realize she was crouching on the floor holding Saiki's hand.
A gentle breeze blew in from the window, making the curtains flutter lightly. Sunlight poured through the window, and the breeze brushed against Saiki's face.
Several faint rays of sunlight hit Saiki's body.
Saiki was bathed in light, which left Kitagawa Marin a little dazed as she looked at him.
From Kitagawa Marin's perspective, Saiki seemed to be looking down at her from above, which was technically true because…
Kitagawa Marin was crouching.
Under the dual backdrop of breeze and sunlight, Kitagawa Marin gazed at Saiki, at that face showing no particular emotion, at those vacant eyes.
Kitagawa Marin [Saiki-kun's gaze is so calm. That deep look, the composed expression unaffected by the surrounding noise, and the way no one can see into his heart… it's just like…]
"Eijun-sama!"
Kitagawa Marin unconsciously blurted it out.
[Who's that? (￣△￣;)]
"Oh, oh, no, not that, wait?"
Kitagawa Marin was about to explain when she felt her body being pulled backward by someone.
…