ACT I - Troubled Hearts I

We stood to listen for a bit, curious of the reason for her wrath. It turned out she was scolding a couple who had ditched their club activities to go on a date, even though they had asked their teachers for permission. It didn't go unnoticed by our demon school president that their 'Oh, Sensei, I don't feel so good today, can I go home?' was not only an excuse, but a blatant lie.

"If it's a date, there's the weekend for that! You two are students so take your club activities seriously!!"

"What? It ain't a crime! Sure, we lied to the teachers, but cut us some slack! We work part time in the weekends and just wanted some extra time together—"

"I don't care about what happens on the weekend or not! Things regarding out of school are not my responsibility. All I know is that you two lied to the teachers, and you're coming with me back to the school to apologize immediately!!"

The couple went silent for a bit, and as we couldn't see them, at first we thought they just surrendered and accepted their fate of getting caught. But then we heard laughter and footsteps running away, following with Ria's shouts after them.

Seeing that there was no point in chasing the couple, she simply kept on shouting after them. She was so loud that the entire school stopped what they were doing to see what the incident was about, either stopping their training outside or peeking from the windows of the school building.

"Arghhh!! Run all you want, I'll see you two at detention tomorrow!!! I can't believe these, those fu—"

She sounded like a wounded animal in pain. Before completing her swear word, she filled her lungs with a deep breath.

Just when we thought her anger fit was over, she let out a loud scream, making everyone watching the scene flinch.

Afterwards, she came back inside the school grounds with quick steps. Somehow, listening to this scene made me feel deeply sad. When I talked with her, she sounded like a genuinely caring person, so hearing her shouts had made me feel weird. It wasn't the first (and most likely not the last) time I'd hear her shouting around the school, but after talking with her, I felt more… Close to her. So I couldn't help but feel like this was my responsibility as well.

"W-was she always like this?"

I found myself asking without thinking. The club captain turned towards me. Sweat was trailing down his face, I wondered if it was because of the hair-raising scene or simply the heat from our exercise…?

"Hmm? Azuma? Well, she's a second year student and… I didn't know her before she became the school president, but I heard she was always a bit… Tough to handle."

He tapped my shoulder, indicating that our jog would continue. I almost appreciated it, as I didn't know a better way to put my troubled heart into rest than exercise.

I didn't reply to him, to my surprise, he kept on talking.

"Listen, Seira… We never know what someone is going through. While it's true that she is a bit more harsh than needed, she must have her own troubles to sort out first. You're a kind fella, so I don't think I need to interfere with things, but never judge someone from how things look from outside."

He was right. But it didn't make me feel better at all, it just made me feel more worried about her, and for my own troubles too.

"Yeah, but that's the thing… I want to know, Seiten-senpai. I want to know what people are going through and… Help them, with all my might. Is it impossible?"

His serious features softened.

"If it's you, I'm sure you can. It's possible."

Just as I was about to question what he meant, one of the third year senpai approached us, also jogging.

"Oi, what are you doing holding our captain captive in chatter? We are still waiting for your directions of training."

"Oh, Kimura. Sorry about that, I'm coming now. Let's go, Seira. Let's begin the group training."

I guess the flow of life also didn't really make it easy to talk about true feelings…

—

While I expected the training session to put a rest to my troubled thoughts, they were sticking to me like a stubborn piece of gum. I came back home, had my dinner, and the concerns were still stuck in my head.

So I decided the best would be to just cut those thoughts away. I couldn't stand them clouding my deserved happiness, about having conversations with people in my life who had the potential to become my friends. I'd just focus on the positives and let things happen with the flow of time.

The thing is, that didn't go so well either. I didn't have a chance to talk properly with Reo despite being classmates, whenever I saw Ria around the school she was just storming away to the next place where she was needed, and in club practice everything was back to normal so I didn't have any opportunity to chat with senpai either.

Not to mention, Rena was treating me as cold as ever…!

Everything was back to square one. Time was ticking, no friendships were being made, and I just kept on faking a smile and politely joining over small talk of my class.

No one knew of the depressing feelings brewing inside of me, getting darker day by day.

At the same time, I just couldn't blame anyone but myself for it—it was me who didn't expose my vulnerable self to anyone. I couldn't tell anyone that I wanted to be friends. Why couldn't I just ask people honestly, 'Hey, wanna be friends?'.

I felt like I had already lost my chance. People had formed their groups already, the senpai were unreachable and I was stuck alone.

Alone.

Would it be like this for my entire school life?

I hated it. I wasn't a guy who liked being left alone, and despite being an only child and some history of being bullied, I had never felt this lonely in my life before. I had managed to make some friends who loved and accepted me even during my worst state.

How come my middle school friends cared for the sick and weak me but no one wanted to get close to me now? Just what was I doing wrong?

The tears I held back for weeks started to gather in my eyes, threatening to overflow any moment. I wanted to desperately scream. I miss my friends, I miss my true home back at Canada, I don't want to disappoint my family but I am so, so lonely here—

At that moment, my phone made a notification sound. I picked it up, not expecting much. I was ready to throw it away to the side after a glance, I just wanted some peace. To my surprise, it wasn't just an advertisement wanting my attention.

It was a notification of a new group chat. The opening message made my heart skip a beat.

'hello, eugene!!'

Eugene—only my friends back in Canada called me so!

'have you relocated back to japan all good and fine? we miss you so much already, things don't feel the same without you!'

'all of us moved on to our respective high schools, but we came together and decided to open this gc to keep in touch. you're the main hero, though!'

'Yeah, tell us all about your life, Eugene!!'

I couldn't believe my eyes, I even thought I was misreading things from my tears blurring my sight. I read them again and again, it was indeed my friends Sarah and Remy who had sent texts! Afterwards, more people started writing.

Ava: sarah we made this group but what time is it in japan

Ethan: Fr tho isn't it night or something? Maybe he's sleeping

Kim: fsjjskdk seriously he's at the other side of the world now

I smiled softly. I was well awake.

Sarah: huh?? i just checked and it was 8 pm there. it should be fine

Remy: Yeah, I did talk with him a few times before classes began. It's evening for him rn

I wiped away my tears, even though new ones formed immediately—this time from being touched. Since relocating back here, I had occasionally exchanged texts with my close friends Sarah and Remy in particular, but it wasn't too fruitful because of the timezone difference, not to mention the commotion of trying to adjust to new schools. To think they'd make a group chat just for me, and invite all the other bunch of our former class too…!

I tried to regain my composure and write a reply to my friends.