Our chemistry period was going on, and the monotonous voice of our teacher was making me feel sleepy. My eyes were already half-closed, just a bit more, and I’ll be sleeping soundly in the class. I was waiting for lunchtime so that I could talk with Gaisen.

The bell rang for lunchtime and it broke my drowsiness. I looked through my half-open eyes, the teacher left the class and everyone got up from their desks. A wave of chatter spread across the classroom and students were also leaving the class since it was lunchtime. Since I bought my bento with me today, I won’t have to head to the cafeteria anymore. Though I’ll miss the choco milk.

I placed my bag on the desk and slid open the chain in which my bento box was. The sound of the zipper attracted Tsumen’s attention towards me. Paying no heed to it, I took it out and started gulping the food. He also turned around to take out his bento box. Last night, I texted him that I will bring my bento with me today, and after a bit of complaining, he also agreed with me and brought his own lunch.

“Heh, I bought my lunch box… dude… are you okay?” Tsūmen asked, looking at me eating my food like a starved Viking.

“Yes, why do you ask?” I said between bites as I looked at his disgusted face.

“Why are you eating like a person who hasn’t eaten for several days?”

“I… uh… let me eat. Then we’ll talk.” He looked at me in confusion. He proceeded to take a bite out of his omelette and put some of the rice in his mouth. He was chewing slowly through them, unlike me.

“You’re… really weird at times…” He looked at me with tensed eyebrows. Of course, I couldn’t tell him that I was eating quickly so that I could talk to Gaisen about Yasurouka.

Even if her name slips from my mouth, he will take a great interest in that and will bug me about it. I have to be careful with my words and how I act.

As I was eating, I noticed someone enter the classroom from the front door. Her blonde hair was shining under the class tube lights, which were tied in a side ponytail. Her shirt wasn’t tucked, and her sleeves were folded up to her forearms. Judging from her attitude, I could tell that she was an upperclassman.

Her head was moving from left to right slowly as the side ponytail was swaying the movement of her head. It appeared as if she was searching for someone. She walked up to the front of the teacher’s table and gazed over at the class.

“Who is that?” I asked Tsūmen.

“Who?” He raised his head from his mobile and looked at me.

“Who is the girl’s class representative here?” She said in a soft voice. Her appearance and her voice don’t match at all. I assumed she had a little low pitch voice.

“That girl.” I said, looking at her.

“Oh… she looks cute.” He said with a look of approval on his face.

What business does she have with our girl’s class representative? And our class doesn’t have fixed representatives, especially for girls. It was always a cold war between Kana and Kizhashi.

“Here?” Kizhashi said in a questioning tone.

Since Kana wasn’t present in the class, Kizhashi easily said that she was the class representative. If Kana was there, then things would’ve turned out a lot different. Even Ms Tachibana was hopeless at them for always arguing among themselves.

The girl looked at her and walked up to her. They seemed to be talking about something which I couldn’t hear. Kizhashi nodded and got up from her chair. She put her bento box in the compartment below her desk and left the class with that girl.

I was also done with my lunch, so I decided to talk with Gaisen and Yasurouka for a bit. And now that Kizhashi is gone too, it’s a good opportunity for me.

I put my bento back in my bag; I stood up from my chair. I was heading to the washroom. As I made my way out of the class, I noticed that Yasurouka and Gaisen were talking with each other. Yasurouka shifted into Kizhashi’s chair and Gaisen was sitting on Yasurouka’s chair now.

I came back from the washroom and entered the class while wiping my hands with my handkerchief. I looked towards Yasurouka and she was chuckling while covering her mouth with left hand and with her other hand she slapped Gaisen’s shoulders in a playful manner. Gaisen was also laughing, and it seemed like they were enjoying themselves.

“Where did Kizhashi-san go?” I asked as I started folding the handkerchief so that I could put it back in my pocket. It was just an action that I showed to make them think that I just wanted to talk with them.

As I said that, both of them stopped talking and looked at me. Their sudden abruptness made me feel awkward for jumping in on their conversation uninvited. Yasurouka looked at me and then turned her gaze towards the wristwatch on her left hand.

“Did I come at the wrong time?” I asked because judging from their reaction, I felt like I interrupted something interesting they were talking about.

“Oh.. no no no no. It’s cool. We are cool.” Yasurouka said while shaking her left palm as a gesture to deny the comment I just made.

“Ah, about Koi-san, that girl said that our chemistry teacher was calling for the girl’s class representative. So Koi went with her.” Gaisen replied, though there was a hint of hesitation in his voice. Now, as far as I know, he surely wouldn’t mind me cutting in on their conversation. But for some reason, there was an air of tension among us.

“The girl’s class representative… hmmm that’s oddly specific.” I said.

“Where did you come from?” Yasurouka asked as I just entered the class.

“Washroom.”

“Ahh, figured that, looking at your handkerchief.” She nodded. As for Yasurouka, she was quite observant on her part. Maybe that was one of the reasons behind her stable social relationships with everyone. She was quick to catch on to things that might appear negligible from someone’s perspective but they are important small details.

“That chemistry teacher is always nicer to girls than to us boys. Isn’t it right, Saishi-kun?” Gaisen asked me with some irritation in his voice.

“I don’t know, don’t really pay attention.” I shrugged. My answer clearly didn’t satisfy him.

“A typical Sakamaki-kun answer.” Yasurouka said while rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, he sometimes answers in some vague manner like this which pisses me off but I don’t say it on his face.” He said with a sigh.

“Oi, I’m right here.” I said, and both of them chuckled at this.

“I was just kidding,” He said while nudging my stomach with his elbow and with a grin on his face. This guy has a humour similar to a middle schooler. But that’s one of the reasons why everyone likes to hang out with him. He was a really easy to get around person.