Sound Environment, Noisy Mind

Loud, rhythmic banging echoes through the halls as the festivities continue.

Not much has changed since Mizuno-san returned to school.

To everyone else, she’s back to normal.

But I can tell.

Even surrounded by people, the space around her still feels empty.

Why do I keep worrying about her?

I know she’s strong.

I know she’s enduring this better than most people would.

And yet the thought keeps returning, like a scab I can’t stop picking at.

Why does it bother me this much?

I’m not even sure I understand the world properly myself.

So why does part of me keep trying to carry someone else’s silence?

“Hisame-kun!”

I look up.

Mizuno-san waves at me from across the noise of the festival.

“Are you alone again?” she asks once I walk over. She tilts her head slightly, resting a finger near her chin. “Do you ever feel lonely like that?”

She keeps asking questions like this.

Like she’s trying to find a crack somewhere inside me.

“Yeah,” I answer lightly. “Nothing much I can do about it. Nobody likes me anyway.”

I laugh a little after saying it.

An old habit.

“No! That’s not true at all!” she blurts out immediately. “I myself li—”

She stops.

Her hand quickly covers her mouth, eyes widening at what almost slipped out.

“What?” I ask.

“N-Nothing,” she says, taking a small step back.

“Oh. Okay.”

The noise of the festival suddenly feels distant.

I almost say something.

I don’t know what.

But before the silence can settle—

“Hey! What’s with this romantic comedy atmosphere?”

Koharu suddenly wedges herself between us, grinning shamelessly.

“Mouu, you two are way too serious! Come on, let’s have fun!” she says. “Let’s go to the fortune-telling booth!”

Without waiting for either of us to answer, she grabs our wrists and pulls us into the crowd.

“Hisame-kun.”

I glance to the side.

Tanaka is standing nearby.

“How are you lately?” he asks politely.

“I think I’m fine,” I answer.

The words come out flatter than I intended.

Tanaka pauses for a second before nodding awkwardly.

“I see.”

And just like that, the conversation dies.

⸻

Koharu drags me through the festival with far too much energy.

“Hey, slow down,” I complain. “It’s not like I’m running away.”

“But you always run, Shinso-tsun!” she shoots back immediately.

…Did she just call me a tsundere?

I don’t even have enough energy to argue anymore.

The fortune-telling booth is dimly lit inside, the smell of incense hanging faintly in the air.

Koharu goes first.

“Tell me about my love life!” she says dramatically.

The fortune teller flips a card over—

Then suddenly goes quiet.

Koharu leans forward. “Eh? Why do you look so serious?”

“I see…” the fortune teller mutters. “You are a prince to someone. You will save a princess disguised as a man. Stay beside him, and your bond shall last a lifetime.”

I burst out laughing before I can stop myself.

“That’s rude, Shinso-kun!” Koharu protests, face turning red. “Why am I the prince?!”

“I only read what the cards show,” the fortune teller replies calmly. “Perhaps you will save someone.”

Koharu stares blankly for a moment.

“…I don’t get it at all, but okay!”

Then she immediately points at me.

“Your turn.”

“Why me?”

“Because you laughed.”

“…Fair enough.”

I sit down across from the fortune teller.

“Romance?” she asks.

“Sure,” I answer casually.

The cards are drawn.

The woman’s expression changes slightly.

“…Red,” she murmurs. “So much red.”

My chest tightens a little.

“The strings tied to you are stained deeply in the color of memory.”

The room suddenly feels colder.

“A shadow from the past walks beside you still.”

Her fingers pause over the final card.

“Those who stop walking to look behind them often fail to reach what waits ahead.”

Something sharp twists in my stomach.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I ask, harsher than intended.

The fortune teller doesn’t react.

“I only read the cards.”

I immediately stand up.

“I’m leaving.”

Before Koharu can stop me, I push aside the curtain and step back into the cold evening air.

My pulse won’t settle.

As I exhale, I glance down absentmindedly at my hand—

—and for a split second, I see it.

A thin red string wrapped around my finger, stretching somewhere far into the crowd.

I blink.

It’s gone.

Only the cold remains.

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I’m rushing down the hallway, cold sweat clinging to my skin.

I know this feeling.

My breathing starts going uneven again, so I force myself to slow it down before it gets worse.

At some point, I realize I’ve wandered farther than I intended.

My phone won’t stop vibrating.

When I check it, there are dozens of messages from Koharu—

—and one from Mizuno-san.

For some reason, that single message catches me harder.

“It seems I worried them,” I mutter to myself.

I stare at the screen for a moment before replying to both of them with the same thing.

I’m sorry.

After that, I start making my way back toward the classroom.

Halfway there, I hear voices nearby.

Arguing.

When I look over, I spot Shion and Souta near the stairwell.

“Oh—hey! Shinso!” Souta calls out the moment he notices me.

Damn it.

I raise a hand awkwardly, already planning to keep walking.

But the moment Shion sees me, her expression breaks.

Her eyes glisten for a second—

then she suddenly turns and runs.

“Shion—wait!” Souta immediately tries to go after her, but she disappears down the hallway before he can catch up.

I blink.

“…Is she really that unhappy to see me?” I ask.

Souta winces.

“It’s not that,” he says quietly.

Something about his tone makes me stop.

He scratches the back of his head before continuing.

“She confessed to me.”

Oh.

“…Congratulations,” I say automatically. “Enjoy your partnered life.”

I try to leave again.

A strong hand suddenly grabs my shoulder.

Hard.

Ugh.

I don’t think I can win against this idiot physically.

“It’s not like that, Shinso,” Souta says firmly. “Just hear me out.”

I look at him for a moment before sighing.

“…Fine. I’m listening.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“She confessed to me, Shinso.”

Souta says it for the nth time. He’s stuck in a loop.

“I know. You’ve said that,” I reply, the frustration starting to leak into my voice. “So what happened? Why did she run?”

Souta rubs his temples. He looks genuinely lost. “I didn’t know what to say. I just… I asked her ‘why me?’” He lets out a deep, heavy sigh. “I told her it’s too early. I think she took it the wrong way.”

I feel a familiar twitch in my jaw. These two are moving on the same wavelength, yet they’re still managing to miss each other entirely.

“Come on, Souta. Just tell her you want to see where it goes. Right now, she thinks you’ve rejected her.”

“Is that it?” He looks at me, searching for a certainty I don’t actually have.

“Most likely. It’s the only reason she’d bolt like that based on what you’ve told me.”

“Okay.” Souta sighs, dejected, but the tension in his shoulders drops an inch. “Thank you, Shinso. I’ll talk to her tomorrow.”

He leaves, his footsteps heavy on the linoleum.

I continue back toward the classroom, but I don’t get far before the silence is broken.

“Hey! Why did you run away, Shinso? You got scared?”

Koharu. She’s grinning, leaning into my personal space with that effortless energy.

“It wasn't like that,” I mutter.

“I hope you’re okay, Hisame-kun. Here, have some water.”

Mizuno-san offers the bottle with a small, quiet smile.

“Careful, though,” she giggles softly. “It’s carbonated. You might be surprised.”

“Thank you.”

I take the bottle. As our fingers brush, I feel a strange warmth rise in my chest.

It’s like a small fire, gently burning in the center of a freezing winter.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The night in my room is gloomy.

Nee-san is already fast asleep. She must be tired from the council work.

There’s one more day until the festival. But the fortune teller told me something I thought I’d successfully buried.

The face of my disaster.

What is this red string? Did I actually see it? I keep thinking about why I was given a second chance.

Living once was hard enough. Now a second life? Should I expect a third? The anxiety is getting over my head.

“This is why nobody loves you…”

It rings in my skull. A sharp ache spikes through my chest and head. It’s like something I forced out is trying to get back in.

“So-chan, are you okay?”

Honoka is knocking.

“You’re groaning in there. Is that it? Are you finally going through puberty?” She laughs.

“No! Why are you even awake?”

“I was going to the bathroom and I heard you. Are you really okay?” Her voice is nicer now.

“Yeah. I think so.”

“I’m coming in, okay?”

I don’t answer.

She enters anyway. She leans over the side of my bed, looking at me.

“Do you want to talk to Nee-san?” She’s leaning in closer. “Is it romance? Or something more?”

She’s listing options, sounding more excited with every guess.

“No, it’s nothing. I just remembered something.”

“Not telling me?”

“Maybe someday.”

“Okay, boringgggg!” She stands up and sighs. “But if you have something on your mind... you can tell me. Okay?”

She leaves.

I needed that.

I’m alive, after all.

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Final day of the cultural festival.



For the first time all day, I finally found a quiet spot near the edge of the schoolyard.



“…I can finally be alone for a while,” I muttered to myself.



I sat down on the grass and leaned back against the fence, earphones already in.



Even then, the festival noise still reached me.



Music.

Laughter.

People shouting over each other.



Then another voice cut through everything else.



“Shion, wait!”



…Souta?



“I said wait!”



“I don’t want to hear it!”



Now Shion was yelling too.



What the hell is this drama?



I pulled one side of my earphones down with a sigh.



“Please, just listen to me,” Souta said desperately. “It’s not that I don’t like you, I just—”



“No! Don’t say it!”



“Shion, wait—”



Then suddenly, both of them went quiet.



Ah.



They finally noticed me sitting there.



For a few seconds, nobody moved.



“…I’ll just leave,” I said slowly as I started standing up.



“NO!” both of them shouted at the same time.



I blinked.



Why are they yelling at me?



“I wasn’t trying to listen or anything,” I said awkwardly. “You two were just… loud.”



Souta rubbed the back of his neck with a groan.



“No, we’re the ones bothering you. We’ll go somewhere else.”



“We?” Shion immediately snapped. “I’m leaving on my own.”



The atmosphere somehow became even more awkward.



I looked between the two of them.



Neither of them seemed angry anymore.



Just hurt.



“…I think both of you are trying too hard to be understood first,” I said quietly.



The words came out before I could stop them.



Shion looked away.



Souta fell silent.



“…Anyway,” I muttered, putting my earphones back on, “I’m not getting involved.”



And with that, I walked off before either of them could say anything else.



----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



It’s almost funny.

All Shion has to do is listen.
All Souta has to do is slow down enough to understand what she’s actually trying to say.

Instead, Souta keeps trying to force his feelings through her all at once.

Like using a sledgehammer against bulletproof glass.

No wonder this turned into a mess.

I keep walking, but part of me still wants to say something.

Drama. Romance.

Back then, I used to think those were beautiful things.

When you like someone, even an awful day can suddenly feel lighter just because they smiled at you once.

That feeling…

I think it becomes real once you stop being able to explain why you love them in the first place.

At least, that’s how it felt for me.

“…Ugh.”

A sharp discomfort twists in my stomach.

I shouldn’t be thinking about that right now.

The moment people become important to you, they gain the ability to hurt you too.

That’s normal.

Maybe I just learned that lesson the wrong way.

I exhale slowly.

I can’t even remember everything clearly anymore.

Just the feeling of it.

Something warm turning into something unbearable.

And somehow…

even now, that fear still hasn’t left me.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was still walking down the hall, looking for a spot where the noise couldn't reach me.

The crowd of middle schoolers was a chaotic blur. I wasn't paying enough attention.

Thud.

“Ah!”

“Oh,” I muttered, my shoulder absorbing the impact.

Papers scattered across the linoleum floor. I shook my head, quickly stooping down to help collect them. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bump into you. Are you—”

I stopped. I looked up.

“...Mizuno-san?”

“Ah, ouch...” She was on the floor, rubbing her knee, her head bowed. “Yes, I am okay. Thank you very much—”

Without thinking, I extended my hand to help her stand.

She looked up. Her eyes met mine.

Her fingers hovered an inch away from my open palm. For a split second, the space between us went entirely quiet.

Then, she froze.

Midway through the gesture, her hand snapped back against her chest. She scrambled to her feet by herself, her movements frantic, almost desperate to avoid my touch.

“Ah, Hisame-kun!” Her voice was suddenly loud. Way too cheerful. Fake. “I—I am completely fine! No need to worry at all!”

I blinked at my empty hand, the air hitting my open palm, before I dropped it slowly back into my pocket. “Are you sure? You still dropped your—”

“Yes!” she cut me off, backing away a step into the crowd. “Our class is calling for me. I have to go. See you later!”

She turned and sprinted.

“Hey,” I called out, watching her back recede through the festival banners. “The classroom is the other way.”

She didn't turn around.

Maybe she couldn't hear me over the school music. Or maybe she just didn't want to.

I stood there alone in the hallway, the festival noise rushing back to fill the silence she left behind.

What is wrong with people today?

Souta. Shion. And now Mizuno.

It seems like everyone is determined to do the exact opposite of what they actually want to do. They run away when they want to reach out.

I leaned my head back against the wall and closed my eyes for a moment.

The festival noise somehow sounded further away now.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the festival was nearing its conclusion, I spotted Shion sitting alone near the back of the schoolyard.

She was crying.

For some reason, I walked over and sat beside her.

“What?” she asked sharply without looking at me. “I thought you didn’t care about us.”

“Maybe I don’t,” I answered quietly. “But you’re still my friends.”

“Hmph.” She wiped her face with her sleeve. “Saying whatever’s convenient for you. How thoughtful.”

“I’m not thoughtful,” I replied flatly. “Honestly, watching you two turn this into a mess feels exhausting.”

She glared at me immediately.

Before she could say anything back, I continued.

“Just some advice.”

I paused for a moment.

“You have to face the inevitable. Whether the consequences turn out good or bad, sometimes you just have to look them in the face. Alone, if needed.”

Shion looked at me in confusion, fresh tears forming in her eyes.

“What are you even talking about?”

“I’m saying you need to face the situation you got yourself into,” I answered. “At least hear him out first before deciding anything.”

I stood up slowly.

“Anyway, I’m leaving.”

“Wait!— Hisame!”

I didn’t stop walking.

Instead, I sat near the stairwell where I could still see the courtyard from a distance.

It took a while.

But eventually, Shion stood up when she saw Souta approaching.

For the first time, she didn’t run away.

The two of them talked for several minutes.

I couldn’t hear what they were saying from where I sat, but eventually, Souta reached toward her—

and Shion stepped forward first.

They hugged.

Awkwardly.
Carefully.

But genuinely.

…I guess they reconciled.

Or maybe they simply decided to slow down and figure things out properly this time.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I stayed near the stairwell, quietly watching the bonfire from a distance with a can of Dr. Pepper resting in my hand.

“Oh,” a voice suddenly said beside me, “that’s unexpected. You’re not drinking black coffee.”

I glanced up.

“Mizuno-san… you shouldn’t appear out of nowhere like that.”

“Eh? Hisame-kun gets startled easily?” she laughed softly. “That’s kind of cute.”

“That’s bad for my heart.”

She giggled quietly before sitting beside me without asking.

“You’re not joining the bonfire dance later?”

“I wasn’t planning to.” I took another sip from the can. “Nobody’s going to ask me anyway. Besides, I’d probably step on someone’s foot.”

“I see.”

She looked back toward the fire.

“Then I’ll stay here too.”

“…Suit yourself.”

The festival was slowly reaching its end.

Around the bonfire, people laughed as they danced beneath the evening sky.

I spotted Nee-san near the crowd, teasing people while looking way too entertained by everything happening around her.

Nearby were Souta and Shion.

And surprisingly—

Tanaka and Koharu too.

“Ah!” Mizuno-san suddenly spoke up. “I saw what you did earlier with Saionji-san.”

I looked at her blankly.

“You tried to cheer her up, right?” she continued with a small smile. “They seem closer now. I think they really suit each other.”

“You think so?”

“Yes.”

She answered so quickly that I couldn’t help letting out a small laugh.

“Well… if you’re that confident about it, I guess I’ll believe you.”

For a while, neither of us said anything after that.

But strangely enough, the silence didn’t feel heavy.

The noise from the festival sounded farther away when I was beside her.

My thoughts weren’t racing the way they usually did.

I stared quietly at the fire in the distance.

…I didn’t really understand why.

But for once—

I didn’t mind staying still.