River of Stars

Chapter 2 - Tides Turning

When Nishikata got home, he left his bag on his bed and went to take a bath. The memories of that nice first day of school were washed away to the back of his mind, as his thoughts went back to the exam simulation he would do in a few minutes. As he bathed, he planned out how he would set up his materials and in which order he'd answer each subject. The Sekai Eda High Entrance Exam had a time limit of four hours, so for that day he intended to see how many points he could get in that period of time.

Finishing his bath, he went to his room and got dressed up, before turning on his computer. He took his materials out of his bag and gathered some more that he had in his room. He sent the pdf of the exam to Takagi as she had asked him and wished her good luck. One minute and a half later he was sitting in front of his computer, the keyboard was cast aside, a few blank paper sheets between him and the monitor, which had the exam opened. He had a pen, two pencils, an eraser and a ruler to his right, and to his left were two piles of books and notebooks for him to check. The hour was 17:37. Nishikata took a deep breath. He drew out his phone, started a timer, and began the test.

Not too long after, the sun had set, and evening fell upon him. Eventually, his parents were back, but they did not make much noise, for they were aware of their son's efforts. The night went on, as the sounds of the outside world died down, until all that was heard in Nishikata's room were the sounds of crickets outside through his open window, or the noise of his pencil scratching the sheet of paper.

It was now 2 AM of the following day, some books and notebooks were spread around his desk, others were cast aside on the corner of his bed, and some few had not been opened and stayed close to where they had been previously organized in piles. The lights were out, his computer was in screensaver mode, his materials were scattered around his table, and a single sheet of paper with several notes was cast aside, while another one still laid in front of his monitor over more blank sheets, with some notes in it. As for Nishikata, he laid on his bed, his back turned upwards, in his casual house clothes. And there he stayed, until the night was over.

Morning came, and Nishikata didn't wake up with it. His parents figured that he was tired and let him sleep as much as possible, but his mother eventually had to wake him up, or he would be late to school. He quickly had breakfast and got himself ready. Being in such a hurry as he was, he didn't talk to his parents about the exam of the previous day. When he took his phone, he noticed that he had forgotten to set off the timer he had started last night. '...' He started making his way to school, walking at a fast pace, but there was no need to run.

Even though he was walking fast, his face was terrible. His back was bent forward, he had dark circles under his eyes, and he would eventually let out a yawn as he walked. But the aura around him was less of sleepiness, and much more of weariness and exhaustion.

Since he had woken up so late, he didn't expect to find Takagi on the way, but when he reached the intersection, there she was, walking towards him coming from her house. She quickened her pace when she saw him, it seemed like she also didn't expect to find him. As she approached, Nishikata sensed that she also gave off a strange vibe that he had never seen before coming from her.

"Good morning, Nishikata..." she greeted.

"... Good morning, Takagi-Sa-" he stopped himself, remembering the previous day. Had it been yesterday? It felt like it had been so much longer ago... "Takagi'' he corrected himself.

Takagi gave a small smile, and without any other word they started walking towards school. They remained silent most of the way, and Nishikata would take eventual glances at Takagi, trying to read her expression, but he couldn't make anything out of it. At length, she spoke.

"Nishikata, did you do last year's entrance exam yesterday?" she asked, still looking ahead.

Nishikata was a bit startled by her suddenly talking, he avoided her gaze "Yeah..."