Chapter 22 - Together again (1/2)

My name is Sasaki Atsuko. I’m thirteen. I just enrolled in a local middle school the other day.

And so, I spent my days in the restless atmosphere of the classroom reading books in the seat farthest in the back. The girls around me that had come from various elementary schools seemed to be making new groups rapidly.

Originally, I should have also joined a group, and be having friendly conversations right now, but…… I’m not very good at this kind of thing…… What would be good to say, is it alright to join them, I have no clue whatsoever.

During elementary school, while I spent my days puzzled like this before I noticed it I had become always alone.

And so, when everyone was together I was always out of the loop, or completely ignored because I didn’t fit in, or teased, or sometimes they would even hide my stuff.

As I spent my days like this, before I realized it I became afraid of other people, and I didn’t speak very much to anyone at all.

Because of that, even though I’ve come to middle school now and it’s a brand new environment…… I still can’t approach people and have a conversation.

That’s why, I was only able to watch the people around me that seemed so happy, and read a book that I brought from home by myself.

From manga to novels, I loved all sorts of books.

While reading a book, once I entered the story, it became possible to forget the lonely feeling of being all alone.

While reading, I would imagine that I was the main character of the story. Even I who was always alone with my head buried in a book, could become a popular, amazing girl in a story.

So, I opened a book as usual today. In order to escape from my lonely reality……

And as the days passed like this, it became a few weeks since I entered middle school.

After my homeroom class ended, I would always go to the library to borrow books. In the last few weeks, that’s become my daily routine. After changing my shoes at the shoe lockers, I would cut across the school courtyard where all the athletic clubs gathered and head straight for the school gate. I didn’t enter any clubs. I kind of want to enter one and maybe even make some friends, but…… I didn’t have the courage to go anywhere by myself.

How nice, it looks so fun. I was thinking that as I saw other girls chatting away in the school courtyard. At that time -

“Ahh~~~~”

I heard a strange cry from above me, and before I could confirm what it was, something hit me with a loud thud with a tremendous impact. It was such an impact that I immediately fell unconscious.

“Ohh, I’m really sorry.”

I woke up to someone’s crying, and when I slowly opened my eyes there was a girl whose face was flooded with tears and had a runny nose in front of me. It seems that it was this girl that had been crying.

“Ahh, she’s awake! She opened her eyes, sensei!”

When the girl noticed that I opened my eyes, she flew towards the other side of the white curtain.

I don’t understand the situation at all. I wondered if I was still asleep. I looked around slowly. There was a white ceiling, with swaying white curtains next to me, and I was in a white bed.

I don’t know where this is, but it seems like it’s somewhere inside the school, because the ceiling is the same.

Huh, I thought for sure that I was supposed to be cutting across the school courtyard……

This time, a woman wearing white clothes appeared in front of the confused me.

“How do you feel? Is your head dizzy? Does it hurt anywhere on your body?”

The woman in the white coat asked me several questions, and I checked my body. Nothing in particular really hurts, and I think my head is fine.

“……I, I’m alright.”

The woman in the white coat smiled gently when I answered her.

“Is that so, I’m really glad. But just in case, to make sure nothing really happened you should go to the hospital for a checkup. Your parents have also been contacted just now.”

“……Eh? Hospital? Checkup?”

I had zero idea what was going on and I just looked at the woman in the white coat with a confused face.

“That’s right. It must have happened so suddenly that you didn’t even know what was going on. This is the school infirmary, and you were brought here because you fainted.”

“…………Fainted……”

Oh, so this is the infirmary, it’s the first time that I’ve been here, so I didn’t know where I was…… That means that this woman with the white coat is probably the infirmary’s nurse. But anyways, I don’t have any illnesses, and I wasn’t feeling sick or anything today. Yet, why did I faint…… My confusion just increased and it was quite visible. And so, the nurse gave a wry smile at seeing my confusion.

“Well, you fainting probably didn’t have anything to do with your condition at all. Unmistakably, it was caused by this child.”

As she said so, the nurse indicated to the girl that was standing next to her. It’s the girl from earlier, and her face was still messy with tears and her nose was still runny.

“I’m sorry!”

As she said so, she deeply lowered her head towards me.

“I finally couldn’t resist the charm of the tree as it beckoned towards me…… It was going great in the beginning, but I got a little carried away…… And so my foot slipped and I fell…… And I landed on top of you…… I’m really sorry!”

At that time, come to think of it, I think heard a strange cry from above me right before something hit me really hard. So that was because this girl fell on top of me.

But anyways she’s not an elementary student anymore, she’s already in middle school, and on top of that, for a girl to be climbing trees…… And what does “I finally couldn’t resist the charm of the tree as it beckoned towards me” mean……

I looked again at the teary-faced girl who was desperately apologizing.

And then, I noticed. This girl’s uniform’s skirt…… The skirt was quite dirty with soil, and it was rather rumpled. It probably got dirty when she fell from the tree onto me…… But the thing is…… That means, this girl climbed a tree without caring about the fact that she was wearing a skirt. She seems like such a strange child……

“Um, I’m alright now.”

I can’t let her keep staying like this with her head bowed towards me, so I told the girl I was alright.

“……But…”

The girl still had a troubled face and continued bowing.

“I’m really alright now, so please don’t mind it anymore.”

I was suddenly buried underneath her when she fell on me. I probably should have been more angry, but…… When this girl is being so remorseful……

And… I just couldn’t bring myself to hate this girl who had a troubled face and was lowering her head, there was just this indescribable atmosphere around her.

“Since it wasn’t on purpose or anything, please don’t mind it at all. More importantly, are you injured? Are you okay?”

I said so to the girl while smiling.

“I’m okay. Thank you, Sasaki-san is so nice.”

The girl who had been crying up until now finally smiled.

Anyways……

“……Why do you know my name……”

Why does this girl know my name? I wonder if she checked my belongings or something.

“What are you talking about? Of course I know it. After all, we’re in the same class!”

“……!?”

I had a blank face at hearing those words and stared intently at the girl in front of me. Come to think of it, I feel like I’ve seen her before.

……So that was it, she was a classmate…… In the weeks since I’ve enrolled in middle school, I’ve mostly just been reading by myself, and I haven’t remembered most people’s names or faces.

“……Sorry, I haven’t really remembered everyone’s names and faces in the class yet.”

Even though you remember me, I’m really sorry that I didn’t remember you. What if she’s unhappy because of that? As if to dispel my worries, she grinned widely.

“So that’s it. Then, once again, I’m year one, class three’s -”

The girl held her hand out to me as she introduced herself. When I instinctively shook her hand in return, the smile spread over her entire face.

“From now on, I’ll be in your care.”

The girl’s hand that I was holding onto was very warm.

And so, from that day on, my days of being by myself underwent a great change. Just like her words “from now on, I’ll be in your care,” the tree climbing girl began to interact with me from the next day on for some reason, and before I realized it became my first friend.

And so -

“A-chan~~, help me~~”

My friend hugged me from behind while begging me for help in a pathetic voice.

“……What is it this time?”

I listened to her as calmly as possible.

“The English translation was today, but I thought it was on another day, and forgot all about it…… And before this time, since I’d forgotten about it the previous two times as well the teacher told me “if you forget any more times, you’ll be punished by having to do the sweeping……”

I was amazed at my friend’s hapless face and sighed.

“……I think you forget too many things……”

While being shocked, I loaned my English notes to my friend, and a smile magically appeared.

“Be sure to return them after English class.”

“A-chan-sama, thank you very much!”

After saying so, the friend that had just lowered her head to me dashed desperately back to her seat, and began copying my notes.

“Sasaki-san, you seem to have gotten completely used to taking care of that monkey.”

One of the girls that sat close to me and my friend in class said so with a wry smile.

“……Monkey?”

“Yes, monkey. That’s been her nickname since elementary school. I went to the same school as her.”

As she answered my question, she gave yet another wry smile.

“She would move around from tree to tree during recess, and she would always be playing around in the nearby mountains, and there were even rumors in the neighborhood that ‘there’s huge monkeys in that mountain’ because of her.”

“……That’s really quite something.”

Indeed, if she was like that back in elementary school, climbing a tree at school in a skirt would be nothing to her even though she’s now in middle school.

“Moreover, just like today she always forgets her homework, and the teacher is always angry at her, yet she’ll just forget everything the next day again…… She’ll always forget to bring it.”

“……That’s really quite something.”

Indeed, my friend always seems depressed immediately after being scolded, but the next day, she’ll be completely back to herself again.

It seems that, no matter how angry you get at my friend, she has a downright enviable ability to forget about everything the next day. However, is this actually good for the person in question…… It must be hard on everyone around her.

When I said “it must be hard on everyone else” to her, her expression became a bit profound.

“But, like…… There’s something fun about being together with her for some reason.”

When the girl smiled and laughed as she said so, I also smiled on reflex.

And after that, she told me many legends about my friend’s elementary school days.

Thus, before I realized it I had become friends with the monkey’s friends as well as a lot of other people.