X — The Bright, Setting Sun

After many hours, soon... the class had been dismissed.

The atmosphere shifted, and everyone left it happily ever after.

The quiet yet enthusiastic crowd, as usual, expressed itself out loud.

Ignoring the so-called silent, quiet girl who was placed in the last row, bottom corner of the classroom.

Especially during a conversation took place somewhere near to her desk.

"Hey, wanna go to karaoke?" A gal called in. Inviting others to join.

"Yeah yeah, that sounds fun!" 

One of them replied in enthusiasm.

"Let's just play some J-Pop songs!" 

The other one followed after the break of silence.

Enthusiasm between them then erupted all of a sudden.

"Whoa, really? J-Pop? That sounds great!"

Yet another one followed. Shameless with her brusqueness.

"Yo girls, want me to join? Thanks in advance!"

A random boy, typical from any school manga, came out of nowhere.

Bravely expressing his interest.

"Huh, that's gross. Who did invite you?"

An insult was thrown mercilessly.

"Heh, you stink. You really wanna join all-girls event? What a creep."

Yet another insult, this time sharper and cut deeper.

"Nah, I mean... hehehe. Not just me. I will invite some upperclassmen."

Then, a distraction. The air shifted as if one word could change the direction.

"Heh, those ikemen? Woah... invite me, invite me!"

The same girl who had just called him gross... couldn't help but approve his words.

"Yeah, me too! You can come in too! Let's go!"

Yet another, who called him 'stink', joining the consensus.

Hilarious. Ironic. Ridiculous.

Suddenly, they were fine with a gross, creepy man who had just invited them.

And all of a sudden, the topic shifted to those upperclassmen they idolized from afar.

Gone were those ugly depictions of his, as if they all were gone, dissipated into the air.

And once again, they had been ignoring the so-called silent, quiet girl who was placed in the last row, bottom corner of the classroom.

The echoed silence after their laughter was even louder than ever.

Someone accidentally kicked a chair while leaving.

The sharp scraping sound echoed across the classroom floor before fading into the hallway noise outside.

Anna glanced briefly toward the doorway, along with her melancholic gaze.

Groups naturally formed around each other without effort. Conversations overlapped here and there. Shoes tapped against the corridor within a step-by-step. Someone then complained about homework while another laughed loud enough for nearby classrooms to hear.

It all looked so natural.

Meanwhile, Anna remained seated at the very edge of the room, still enough to disappear into the background if nobody looked carefully enough.

And perhaps that was exactly what she had gotten used to.

Such a silence then soon had become the cacophony of her own loneliness.

After listening and observing to such a mundanity, she looked away at the window.

Anyway...

She often wondered what it would feel like to be invited, or whether it would've been fun or not.

I wonder if going there is as fun as what they were talking about...

She would never know.

And yet, she stopped those unrealistic thoughts.

Almost immediately.

No, I couldn't. 

Let alone would she ever resist such a temptation.

No. Never.

There was no way she would.

Because in her own mind, she is just Kazuko trapped in a nameless schoolgirl's vessel.

Yes, two of her most famous literary works from the so-called idol of hers.

Both were colliding, created the rainbow kind of experience sensed by her chest.

The one Kazuko wrote in her last letter about M·C.

Maybe those are fluttering kind of stuff she talked about.

Soon after, she took off her glasses. Wiping them off gently with a cloth taken from her briefcase.

Despite deep down, she hated wearing glasses.

Glasses are like a ghost. The beauty of your eyes is the best thing about people.

She had read that somewhere in one of his works. Or it could be it was just her being herself.

I wish I had eyes that sparked softly...

Eyes that inspired others to live beautifully.

Glasses obstruct whatever emotions that might appear on your face — passion, grace, fury, weakness, innocence, sorrow. And it's curious how it becomes impossible to try to communicate with your eyes.

She genuinely took those lines as deeply as possible. 

Personally, even.

All in all while daydreaming. Doing nothing but paraphrasing those tedious lines.

Unattractive among high school students of her age.

Or perhaps, sightseeing. Waiting until almost everyone had left the school before going there.

Yes, her very own sanctuary. The bench under that cherry blossom tree.

She knew exactly where she was going, or where she had to be,

Third floor.

Second grade.

That's exactly where she belongs.

An upperclass yet not so senior, an underclass yet not so junior.

It's also the class where problems often were mistaken as romance.

She aced maths, not knowing it requires more than formula and derivatives to understand others.

Never mind. Forget it.

After spending hours of daydreaming, she eventually grabbed her brown brief case.

And before leaving, she traced the edges of her desk. An instinctive ritual, perhaps.

She walked away with a pacing of a snail from the classroom to the school's corridor.

She ignored the setting sun, moving downstairs. 

Slowly but surely, she was reaching the ground floor.

Yes. Alone. On her own.

She was getting used to it. Perhaps, a bit too much.

Never had she ever thought of going with anyone but other than herself.

For her, Anna Kanzaki herself was enough. 

She didn't need anyone else.

As she walked down along with her own thoughts, she drifted away from the school's hall door.

Her dark, hopeless eyes were already shifting their focus to that bench.

She sneaked, as if anyone would notice, slowly increased her steps pacing.

She thought she was going to be there without finding anyone else.

The bench looked to be empty. As no one was sitting there.

But alas...

Oh no, not again...

A crooked smile as bright as the setting sun.

His blonde hair, the same one that looked like he had coloured by himself.

And as he finally spotted her tiny figure, his smile grew wider.

"Yo, Kanzaki-san!"

He said, with his lips curved and mouth open. 

Much brighter than the sunset in the afternoon right behind.

Waiting for her to answer his greetings. 

Sooner or later.