How We Met Again

Chapter 10: Wait, Midterms Are A Thing?!

On Monday, I found myself awake at the crack of dawn. Cursing my premature consciousness, I rose and began preparing for the day. My movement inadvertently woke up Raiha, who decided that if she was awake, our dad had to be awake, and if our dad was awake, that meant it was time for breakfast.

After eating, I decided to just leave early instead of spending the extra half-hour or so studying at home. I got to school well before the usual time, the grounds quiet as I walked through the front gate. The footlocker area was devoid of any other students, and so I pulled my shoes off and changed my footwear in the eerie silence of a place normally full of the noises of daily life. I took a moment to fix my hair in the mirror, and idly noticed that it was starting to get a little longer than I would typically like.

Time to go to the Raiha salon, I suppose...

Closing the footlocker again, I glanced around the empty room, pondering what exactly I should do in the time I had until classes started. I decided to just go study at my desk. I made my way through the sparsely populated (but not deserted) hallways until I reached my classroom. Sliding the door open, I was surprised to see that the room wasn't empty -- a star-spangled redhead was idly staring out the window.

"Huh, you're here early. Good morning, Itsuki."

She started, and whipped around. "E-Eh?! Oh, Uesugi-kun, it's you. Good morning. You gave me a bit of a shock there."

"Is that so?" I said, walking to my desk. "Sorry about that. I didn't think there was going to be anyone else here yet this early."

"Surprise!" Itsuki said drily.

"Why are you here this early, out of curiosity?"

"I... don't want to say. It's a bit embarrassing."

"That's fine, you don't have to tell me. Suit yourself."

I sat down at my desk, and pulled out my schedule for the day. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Itsuki lower her head to her desk, and stare down at something -- presumably, her head was so low in order to prevent me from seeing what she had hidden there. Her face seemed scrunched up, like she was trying to read something.

"You wouldn't happen to be studying, now would you?" I idly said, twirling a pencil between my fingers.

"W-What? Why would you think that? I definitely didn't come here early to find some time to study alone so that my sisters wouldn't find out!"

"That's... way more specific than anything I said. Come on, Itsuki, you're not fooling me."

"Urgh... How did you know?"

It doesn't exactly take a genius to figure that out... and I am a genius, thank you very much.

"Call it intuition. What's with the sudden urge to study? Worried about midterms? I approve."

"Well, I'm very glad you approve," Itsuki said sarcastically, dropping all attempts to hide the textbook hidden beneath her arms. "It's not about that though. Well, maybe a little bit -- I don't want to fail, after all."

"Something else bothering you?"

"Why do you care, Uesugi-kun? You don't seem like the type to normally stick your nose in other people's business."

Actually, that's a great point. Why do I care?

I furrowed my brow in thought, and glanced away from Itsuki to look out the window. Contemplating, I watched the birds flitting around the trees, and the grey October sky filled with clouds. The answer seemed to be right on the tip of my tongue...