Unexpected Encounter

On one side of the bridge stretched a bustling city, full of shining lights and crowded malls. On the other stood the ever-popular Kyousei Academy, its tall gates guarding a campus that felt out of reach for almost every student. It was the most prestigious institution in the entire country, and Arata Sato’s parents wished for him to one day study in such a grand place.

Tragically, when Arata Sato was just five years old, his parents were killed in an accident on that very bridge while traveling to submit his application to Kyousei Academy.

Eleven Years Later,

Arata Sato was now a first-year student at a no-name high school.

One day, on his way back home after school, Sato felt completely drained. The classes, the pointless banter between students, and the teachers who barely showed up to teach any lesson worth remembering all weighed on him.

Once, when Sato met with the school’s career counselor to ask about any future opportunities, he was met with an unconcerned laugh. The counselor said,

"The only reason you can study here, Sato, is because your parents were good friends with our headmaster. If you think you deserve to secure a higher education, you’re on your own."

Sato didn’t talk back. He couldn’t even let out his frustration at the counselor’s dismissive words. He simply walked out, rubbing his tired eyes. He still wasn’t going to give up, but all those hours he had spent searching for merit- and scholarship-based exams on the school’s computer only made him feel even farther from making his parents’ dream come true.

Sato wasn’t satisfied with spending three precious years of his life at an institute that didn’t care where he would end up and had no real connections to any external university.

The glass shelter of the bus stop reflected Sato’s thoughtful expression. His black hair was messy, his uniform utterly worn out, and his troubled mind raced with restless thoughts—until the subtle sound of a gate opening caught his attention.

Across the bridge from where Sato stood waiting for his bus, the entrance gate of Kyousei Academy slowly swung open. From it, two luxurious, sleek black cars emerged and glided out through the gate.

The contrast between his own worn-out reflection and the academy students’ expensive rides stabbed at his pride.

His fists clenched subconsciously as he stepped onto the bridge, drawn toward the open air. He walked to the railing and looked down at the dark water below, needing to breathe. The peaceful sight slowly calmed him, and Sato murmured to himself,

“This was the place where Mom and Dad died too, wasn’t it?” he said softly, his voice tinged with sad reminiscence.

Over the years, he had developed a habit of talking to himself whenever his overactive mind refused to quiet down, but on this night, even that wasn’t enough. Sato stared into the shifting water for a long moment before finally looking up and whispering,

“I’m sorry, Dad and Mom. I couldn’t get into Kyousei Academy for high school as you two wished.” His eyes softened as faint memories of his parents surfaced—snatches of warm smiles, gentle hands, and voices that felt further away with each passing year.

He was abruptly cut off by a soft confession spoken in a sweet voice behind him. He turned to look.

A girl around his age stood just a few feet away, dressed in a pristine, elegant outfit. She, too, was leaning on the railing, staring down at the water just as Sato had been.

She turned to look at him, and both of them froze. At the same moment, they blurted out, “You didn’t hear anything… right?” Each of them was terrified the other might have overheard their deepest confession, even though neither had been aware of the other until the last second.

Sato’s thoughts raced. At the start of the bridge, he spotted a sleek car similar to the ones that had just driven into the academy, surrounded by a few servants repairing a punctured tire. He glanced back at the girl—her elegant outfit, her neatly styled hair gently fluttering in the night breeze—and pieced things together. She must be a student at the academy, he concluded.

The girl grew increasingly embarrassed, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. With the moonlight and the city lights glowing behind her, the sight felt almost theatrically beautiful to Sato.

In a soft tone, she said,

“I don’t know if you heard anything, but if you did… would you mind keeping it a secret?”

Sato blinked, puzzled. He hadn’t heard anything at all in the first place. Still, he replied,

“It’s fine. I won’t tell anyone,” he said, hoping his answer would ease some of her tension.

He had been pulled out of his inner monologue mid-thought and thrown into an unexpected encounter with such a beauty—only to find himself promising not to share a confession he didn’t even know.

A few minutes earlier, inside the sleek car—

"It appears the rear tire is punctured, Miss Fuyumi," her caretaker said. "It won’t take long to fix."

Fuyumi Kujo replied, “It’s alright, Bertha. I needed some fresh air anyway.”

Fuyumi Kujo stepped out of the car and walked to the side of the bridge. She leaned lightly against the rail, gazing down at the sparkling water that reflected the moon and the night sky. Under her breath, she whispered,

“I wish I could be a fish, swimming around—free of others’ judgment and expectations of me. Ever since I failed to get into Kyousei, my family hasn’t been pleased with me at all, as they constantly compare me to my elder sister," she whispered. It was at that moment that Sato happened to notice her.

Back to now,

Fuyumi spoke as she slowly adjusted her hair, which kept fluttering in the soft breeze.

“I’m… Fuyumi Kujo. What’s your name?” she asked.

“I’m Arata Sato. I’m not a student here, so… no need to be tense,” he said, knowing she was worried he might be her classmate. All the while, he assumed Kujo-san was a student at Kyousei High.

His words made Kujo-san visibly relax; at least he wasn’t someone from her school. Yet as her fingers nervously fiddled with the fabric of her skirt, a heavier feeling settled in her chest. She wasn’t a student of Kyousei Academy at all, and tonight she had only come to the bridge to find a little comfort under the night sky.

Just then, a stern voice called out to them. It was Madam Bertha, Fuyumi’s caretaker.

“The car’s tire is fine now, Kujo-san. We’ll be late if you continue your impromptu talk.”

Kujo-san turned to Madam Bertha and then returned to her car, relieved that her childish confessions hadn’t been heard by someone important.

Sato waved her goodbye, and she gently smiled as she got into the car beside her caretaker, and the two of them drove off.

Arata Sato then decided to walk back home instead, although the image of Kujo-san standing on the bridge beside him lingered in his mind. On the way, he heard a group of students chatting gleefully as he thought to himself,

“If only I had another chance to enter Kyousei Academy, not by the usual underhanded way used by the sons and daughters of rich and famous people studying there.”

He returned to the place he called home: an old-age home where his grandparents lived, along with several other elderly residents.

“I’m back, Grandpa,” he called, as his frail-looking grandpa, dressed in a simple coat and pants, welcomed him back softly.

Arata Sato had been living in that old age home since his parents’ death and often helped out the elderly who, along with his grandparents, inhabited the place. Throughout his dinner, he kept thinking back to the meeting on the bridge, until a sudden TV news report made Sato nearly choke on his food and drop his spoon in surprise.

[Breaking news: The well-renowned Kyousei Academy announces that their annual nationwide Capstone Exam, known for its rigorous difficulty, will be held next week and that the sole outperformer in the entire Country will be admitted into the Institute with no additional fees.]