Kei: Hah~~~
On this typical day, I breathe a long, deep sigh.
Youko: ……Hato-chan, what’s up? You look kinda down.
Kei: Yeah……
Youko-chan’s constant invitations to go out and have fun are probably all that keep me from relapsing into that sleeping oblivion.
Of course, it’s not all play. We were also doing our homework together, to prepare for the end of summer——
But even then, the lingering memory of the dream remained——
Kei: Hah~~~
Yet again, I let out a listless sigh.
Pretending not to notice my awful attitude, Youko-chan passes all sorts of conversation topics my way.
I’m pretty sure the reason she’s dragging me around isn’t just because she’s bored.
Youko: Oh, right, Hato-chan, top secret news! I hear there’s gonna be a transfer student after summer break.
Kei: Huh. They say a parting is always followed by another encounter, don’t they?
Youko: ……Hato-chan?
Kei: Ah… just so you know, I’m not really talking about mom.
Even though my feelings are stuck in a rut, time continues to press on, regardless.
It looks like this sweaty heat’s going to continue a while yet, but even so, the tree leaves will eventually change their colors and fall.
The vibrantly colored clothes of passers-by, too, mostly likely will take on a host of composed, sepia toned colors.
And this summer in my memory, as well——
When I flip through my calendar, the word “September” appears.
September is sudden.
The month of urgent, rushing feet.
The end of the year is the time where teachers are hurried enough to run, but in the past, I think it might have been the harvest period of fall where people were busiest the most.
And speaking of harvesting, you could also say it’s the season for reaping the homework that was sown in the summer.
Ahh, that’s right—— school is going to start really soon, isn’t it?
Once school starts, the troubles of the ordinary come barreling at you like an avalanche.
In the four months until winter break you have the Sports Festival and school vacation, the School Festival and Christmas, and with end-term exams stuck in the middle, you could say it’s packed full of bittersweet ordinary experiences.
Surely by then, the listless feeling in my heart remaining from those extraordinary times will be——
September 19th. The weather is clear.
Since that time, more than a month has passed, and finally the extraordinariness of that summer has begun to be buried in the boisterous events of day to day.
They say things get noisy when three women gather, and if you look around me in an eight meter radius, you can multiply that noisiness by all the digits on my hands and feet, so that’s probably why——
Whatever results from that, it’s best not to tell.
Not to mention, this was the day the transfer student was said to come, so it’s only natural to expect a little noise.
Our school isn’t quite made to handle transfers, so everyone is immensely curious about just what kind of girl she is.
Of course, you won’t find any girls in this class room bad mannered enough to pull away and scout around the faculty room, but——
Kei: Umm, hey, Youko-chan.
Youko: Huh?
Kei: Umm… you know……
Kei: Hold on, it looks like the teacher’s here.
At just the right time, with a grating *garari*, the door slides open.
It’s natural enough for the room to grow quiet when the teacher comes, but it’s rare for all chatter to stop on a dime, like today.
As all present look on, gulping in anticipation, hiding in our homeroom teacher’s shadow, the transfer student arrives.
Youko: ……She’s really short, huh?
Much unlike the teacher, the referred and myself, thinking this must be the perfect time to break the silence, Youko-chan summarizes her impression into one word.
She’s right, that girl is extremely small.
Part of it is that she’s being compared to the teacher, who used to play Volleyball, but the contrast of height between them——
—certainly isn’t typical of even a sparkling new first-year student——
Reaching up to the limits of her elementary school girl-level height, she takes the chalk in hand and writes her name on the board.
Tsudzura: It has been decided that I will be spending time with you all from this day forth. My name is Wakasugi Tsudzura!
Kei: Ah…… Tsudzura-chan……
Tsudzura: I hope you will regard me especially favorably, Kei-oneesan!
Tsudzura-chan has come to my school.
Kei: But, Tsudzura-chan.
Tsudzura: What is it?
Kei: Your age?
Tsudzura: You could say I skipped a few grades.
Kei: Skipped what grades?
Tsudzura: Fabricated grades.
Fabricated, she says… talk about blunt.
Well, since this is a private school, I suppose there might be a little more flexibility than in a public school, but aren’t there all sorts of regulations involved in that?
Though when it comes to the Wakasugi Group, they seem to have the kind of power they could easily wag around to waive things like that——
Kei: You don’t mean?
Tsudzura-chan nods with a bright grin.
Tsudzura: You see, there’s more than enough authority to go around, and I wanted so much to interpose, I could not help myself!
◇Whatever she wants, whatever she likes… – やりたい放題好き放題 – Blue Ending