Surviving Another Day

"And that concludes today's lecture," said the Calculus professor. "Good work, everyone. See you tomorrow."

I packed up my belongings and made my way out before anyone else could.

That's three out of four classes down. Only one left, then I can go home and rot like I usually do. Easy enough. Only... It's not gonna be as easy as I thought.

Upon exiting the building, I was met by a courtyard filled to the brim with students going about their day. A large group of friends was sitting on the grass, some playing football. Hanging out right at the bottom of the stairs was a trio of girls, laughing and gossiping. Among them was Junko.

She slightly shifted, giving me the snake eye as I passed her without acknowledging her.

What's the point when it'll inevitably end in a fight? I'd rather not deal with that today. Or tomorrow. Or forever.

By the time I arrived at my last class, it was already one past noon. I descended the aisle toward my seat, where someone was sitting with all his things on my side of the desk. As if noticing my presence, he glanced back with a friendly smile.

"Oh, hey! How's it going, Kazuha?"

"...Haruto. Did you take over my desk or something? Why's all your shit over here and not over there?"

"Oops. My bad, man. I'm looking for my pen, but I can't seem to find it. Maybe I left it at home while I was cramming for my exam."

"Your pen...? How do you forget something like that?"

"Hey. Not all of us were lucky enough to get accepted into a dormitory unit. Some of us have to wake up earlier and rush to get here on time. And by some of us, I mean me."

I sighed.

"Just clean up. I have an extra that you can borrow."

"Oh, really? That's a bet."

He began shoving all of his stuff aside.

Yoshida Haruto is a friend of mine — one of the few. Like me, he's a third-year student on the cusp of graduating, but comparatively speaking, he's a bit more studious than I am.

Not even a bit. More like a lot. But he certainly doesn't act like it.

"There you go! Have a seat, my lord."

"Knock it off," I sighed, sitting down. "Today's not the day for your shenanigans. My tolerance for stupidity is lower than usual."

"I'll say. Speaking of which..."

He paused, seemingly reluctant to say more, but I already knew what he was aiming for.

"Go on, Haruto. I'm sure you're curious."

"Yeah, I am, but... You come first, man. You okay? After..."

I leaned my elbow on the desk.

"Am I okay? Honestly, I'm not sure. Leaving Junko feels weirdly liberating. Kind of like I just got out of a toxic relationship."

"Well, that's because it was a toxic relationship. That girl did not give a shit about you, man. I mean, cheating on you and proudly proclaiming it? Who does that? Plus, she didn't even confront you about it till a whole two days later. That's not right at all."

"Yeah. At the same time, though... It does feel a bit bad. She cheated me, so now I can't help but think about why. Why did she feel the need to go that far? I don't even know why I'm asking such a stupid question. She straight up told me why, but for some reason... I'm still hung up on it."

"What exactly did she say?"

I gave Haruto the rough summary of what Junko and I had discussed. In hindsight, it was less of a proper discussion and more of a... humiliating beatdown. Long story short, she was proud of what she had done, and she couldn't care less about how I felt in the moment.

"Well, that confirms it," Haruto sighed.

"Hmm? Confirms what?"

"What I always believed: that Junko is a self-obsessed, narcissistic asshole who only cares about herself. I just didn't wanna say it before because she was in a relationship with you."

"...Is that so?"

"Hell yeah, man. Even my friends think so. You ever heard all the rumors that go around about her?"

"Like what?"

Haruto leaned back, pinching his chin.

"Where should I even start? One of them is to be careful around her. Otherwise, she'll bite your dick off."

"H-huh? I've... never heard that one before."

"That's the craziest one, and for obvious reasons, that's the only one I can remember at the top of my head. There are a lot more, but to spare you the entire list, she's messed up in the head. Unless you're into that, stay away from her."

I leaned forward and leaned on the desk.

"Well... I guess that says a lot about me."

"Don't beat yourself up too much. People you love, you'll ignore a ton of red flags for. Happens all the time, even if it isn't a romantic partner. Lesson learned, yeah?"

"Yeah. Anyway, how's it going with— huh...?"

I froze, but I wasn't the only one. Standing in the aisle right next to me was a girl, and it wasn't just any girl. Her bright pink eyes were wide behind those round glasses.

"Ah... Y-you're..."

Before she could say anything, the professor announced from the front, "Chihara Ouka. I am about to begin the lecture. If you would have a seat..."

"Oh, yes! S-sorry, Professor!"

The girl, Chihara, quickly scurried further down toward the front row of seats, but not without turning around for one last glance.

"Whoa~ Did Chihara Ouka just check you out or something?" Haruto whispered. "What was that all about?"

"I'm... not sure."

"Wait..."

He leaned over the desk, hovering a hand over his eyes to block the nonexistent sunlight.

"Isn't that... your umbrella?"

Sure enough, my white umbrella with duckling designs was folded and hung from a lace under her school bag.

"I think you're mistaken," I mumbled.

"Hell no, I ain't. The day you got it, you called me at two in the morning just to show me."

"...I did?"

"Yeah. You were so stoked about it. I remember it so well because it was raining the next day, so you had the golden opportunity to use it."

"Huh. For some reason, I don't recall."

Haruto let out a chuckle.

"Sure, you don't. Anyway, spill the beans. Why does Chihara have your umbrella?"

As much as I wanted to keep denying it, Haruto was never one to let things go so easily, especially when he's invested. Capitulation was the only option if I wanted to live out the rest of the day in peace.

"I lent it to her," I said as steadily as I could.

"Huh? You lent it? You,"—he put up his hands to visualize it—"lent your umbrella."

Then, he shook his head.

"Nope. The math isn't mathing."

"What are you on about? That's exactly what happened."

"I don't know, man. You'd sooner drop dead in a ditch somewhere than have a normal interaction with another human being. Especially giving up your precious umbrella. That's just not possible in this iteration of the multiverse."

"...Remember the thing I said about my tolerance for stupidity? It's running pretty low right about now."

Haruto pulled his hands back as if to surrender.

"Alright, alright. I'll stop... for now."

Soon, the lecture began.