Takiyo stared at the girl. She was laughing and talking with Orange Head. She was in his class? He didn't know how exactly he felt about that.

Shrugging it off, he looked around for the seating chart. He couldn't find it on the board, and checked to see if it had fallen off.

"Um, can I help you?"

Takiyo looked up to see Ponytail Girl. She smiled at him kindly. "Are you looking for the seating chart? Come here, it fell off."

She led him to the teacher's desk, where the seating chart was kept.

"What's your name?" Ponytail Girl asked.

"U-um...Hamasaki Takiyo." Takiyo replied, avoiding eye contact.

"Hamasaki-kun... Hamasaki-kun..." Ponytail Girl scanned the chart with her pale blue eyes.

(Note: '-kun' is a honorific that is attached to a name for formality, usually used for males. Also, people call each other by their family names unless they have a certain level of intimacy.)

"Ah!" She located his name and smiled at him again. Why did she have to smile so much? "This way."

Ponytail Girl led him to a seat at the back, which suited his preference. It was right next to Weird Lonely Girl. He was caught by surprise for a moment, but then silently sat down. Ponytail Girl watched him settle down.

"My name's Kaneshiro Arisu." She introduced herself. "If you ever need help with anything, let me know." Then she turned and, as she was leaving, she waved to Weird Lonely Girl and Orange Head. "Hi again, Yu-chan. Rekkun."

(Note: '-chan' is also a honorific that is often used for women, but it can also be used for males when the pair have known each other for a long time or are exceptionally close.)

Yu-chan, huh? Takiyo thought. And Rekkun.

When Arisu left, the two of them caught his eye. The boy called 'Rekkun' smiled at him, and 'Yu-chan' gave an odd, nervous grimace, then immediately turned back to her conversation. Takiyo caught the words, "Geez, come on now," escape Rekkun's mouth.

At that moment, their homeroom teacher entered and called for silence.

"Welcome to a new session, everyone!" she said, clapping her hands together. "My name is Saiki Bunko. Nice to meet you. Can we have self-introductions, please?"

Takiyo jerked. He hated this. Why do they have to announce their names in front of about thirty people? More than half of them probably don't even care. If they were interested, they'd ask themselves.

He zoned out, and he only realised that it was his turn when the girl next to him tapped his shoulder. "Psst, it's you!" she whispered.

Takiyo groaned internally, stood up, and said clearly, "Hamasaki Takiyo." Then he sat back down.

Saiki-sensei blinked.

(Note: '-sensei' is a honorific used to address a teacher or a coach. It can also refer to experts in their fields.)

"I-is that all, Hamasaki-kun?" she asked tentatively.

Takiyo was about to nod his head in reply, but a certain someone didn't let that be all.

"Takiyo-kun?!" Michi yelled, turning towards his seat in surprise. "You were in this class too?! I didn't notice!!"

Takiyo forced a smile and nodded. Instantly, all attention was drawn to him, mostly from the boys. What else do you expect when a pretty girl suddenly called out to you, that too using your first name? Yoichi looked a little sour next to her, as Michi beamed at him.

"M-moving on," Saiki-sensei said, looking at Weird Lonely Girl.

Weird Lonely Girl stood up shakily. She was very nervous. Takiyo cast her a side-glance, to see her staring at her desk. She was drawing deep breaths.

"U-um... Are you-" but Saiki-sensei was cut of as the girl suddenly yelled at the top of her lungs.

"N-NISHIKAWA YUKO!!"

Then the finally-properly-named Yuko fell back into her seat, red with embarrassment. The entire class looked shaken up by her sudden outburst, which caused her to sink even lower in her seat. Takiyo silently thanked her for taking the attention off himself.

Rekkun patted her elbow, but since she wouldn't budge, he stood up himself. Now he stole more of the attention, mostly from girls.

"Um, my name is Muranaka Ren. I'm part of the track and field club. My previous class was 1-B, but I look forward to making friends with all of you this year." he said smoothly. Then he glanced in Yuko's direction. He seemed to be deciding something, and then addressed the class again. "My friend Yuko here has social anxiety, so I hope you all can go easy on her. She also wants to make friends." Then he bowed and sat down.

There was a sudden muttering at this as people repeatedly glanced at her, as she continued to hide her face in her hands. Takiyo stared at her. Social anxiety, huh? he thought.

Whereas he chose not to make friends when he could, she wanted to make friends when she couldn't? How odd.

***

It was lunch. Takiyo silently took out his bento and a light novel he had been hooked onto recently, and set up an aura that told anyone within the radius of five feet not to talk to him.

(Note: 'Bento' is a lunchbox in Japan. Light novels are Japanese novels that are small in size, so that they can fit in your pocket and be carried around.)

This was particularly unnerving to the girl named Yuko, who was trying to have a conversation with a couple of girls who came to talk to her. Ren was hovering nearby, translating mumbles and finishing left off sentences. The girls seemed to be having more fun talking with Ren than with Yuko. By then, Michi had also joined in.

"Hello, I'm Iseri Michi. Nice to meet you, Nishikawa-san!" she said cheerfully.

"Y-yes, I heard..." Yuko said. Takiyo, who was desperately trying to ignore his surroundings, heard this sentence and gave a hollow laugh in his head. She remembered everyone's name from the self-introductions? She knew the names of the two previous girls as well.

Michi smiled at her, then her eyes slid in Takiyo's direction. "Ah, that's Takiyo-kun!" she told Yuko, and Takiyo jumped and hid his face behind his book. It had been quiet a while since Michi had randomly introduced him to someone. Before Michi had started dating Yoichi, Michi always tried to make him friends with everyone, but he always rejected the offer.

Yuko gave a tiny glance at Takiyo, whose aura had been broken, and quickly stared back at her hands.

"He's actually really nice," Michi said, smiling. "But he never wants to make friends with anyone. He's such a loner." She laughed, and Yuko nervously nodded.

What was with this? Why was she suddenly introducing him to people just like she did two and a half years ago? He had forgotten the sensation. It used to happen so often that he had taken it for granted. Now, two and a half years later, the sensation was amazing. He tried to hide the blush on his face. When he peeked over the top of the book, Michi was smiling at him.

Smiling purely at him after two and a half years. Making his heart beat so hard after two and a half years.

He was happy beyond limits. So happy it nearly showed on his face. He prevented that from happening, but he couldn't stop the blush. He diverted his eyes.

By then, Yoichi had shown up, and all the warmth of Michi's smile was wiped away from Takiyo, as she introduced Yoichi to Yuko.

He turned his head the other way. He didn't mind that. He was feeling this warm feeling after so long, but it melted all the coldness that had been built up over two and a half years. Why? He didn't know nor cared. He just knew it made him happy.

Two long and wavy auburn pigtails, bright green eyes and the heart-shaped face. Smiling at him with warmth only she could muster.

Michi's warmth.

But there was still a question: Why?