Sunlight Under the Stars

Six: Realization

I really should've done more research before I came to this school, or at least walked around it a little. I'd heard it was massive, but I'd also heard it wouldn't take too much preparation. Apparently that was before each year's building combined, because I have no idea where I'm going. Fortunately, Kaede has planned ahead much better than I have. She seems to know exactly where homeroom is, while I'm completely lost, despite the fact that it's just one long hallway connecting the music room to homeroom. She says she's got no skills besides playing piano, but she's still so much more talented than me.

For a second, though, even she almost gets lost. She's so confident that I don't even realize she's lost until she stops in the middle of a four-way hallway intersection. She tilts her head to the side, and somehow it takes me a second to realize why she's stopped. Then the sound hits me. Maybe the sheer volume is what's prevented me from realizing it. From the left corridor, I can faintly hear people shouting at each other over sounds of sheer destruction; from the right, more destruction, slightly less shouting. I shoot Kaede an anxious look, but she actually seems encouraged by this. "At least the action is away from our homeroom!" she explains. "The only people still in homeroom will probably be a lot less rowdy, right?"

"Y-yeah, right..." I don't know if I would have come to this school if I'd known it would be this chaotic. "Wait... away? I thought we were going to our homeroom right now?"

She blushes and gives an adorable little embarrassed smile. "Yeah... I may have gotten lost. But that doesn't matter!" Regaining her composure almost instantly, she straightens up and heads in the other direction. "Come on, Shuichi!" she calls after me. "Even if we have to go in circles forever, I know I'll find our homeroom for us."
Forever?? That's kind of a dramatic statement. But her enthusiasm makes it obvious that she's not exaggerating, and my admiration for her grows. How much dedication can one person have? I hurry to catch up with her, and suddenly something that I should've thought of at the start occurs to me. "I still have this map of the school in my pocket, and it's got our homeroom circled. If we can figure out where we are, we'll be able to navigate back there."

Kaede looks surprised, then exaggeratedly facepalms. "Aw, and we were using that just this morning, too! I really should've thought of that... but good on you for remembering!" Her smile is so entrancing that I have to tear my eyes away to avoid being creepy. "See? You're a pretty good detective after all!"
"Well, I just remembered the one thing..." I stop myself before Kaede can lecture me about believing in myself. "Ah, thanks."

We've come to another four-way intersection, and I hand Kaede the map, looking around for anything that might tell us where we are. It's pretty much the same as any other hallway in the school – weirdly lit and decorated in extremely poor taste, but identical to everywhere else – but one of the doors leading off of the hallway might provide a clue. "It looks like the gym is right there. And... it looks like people are beating each other up inside. Anyway. Is the gym mentioned on the map?"

Kaede frowns, her face screwing up in concentration as she studies the map. "Ugh, I kind of wish Rantaro had stuck with us. He travels, so he can probably read a map better than me. I can't make sense of this thing." Before I can process a sudden irrational wave of jealousy, her face lights up. "Oh! Yeah, right here is the gym, and based on where we're standing..." She points down the hallway directly in front of us. "Our room should be the second door on the left after the next two intersections!"

"Great!" I'm dying to get off my feet. And, while walking around with Kaede is fun and all, the sustained awkwardness of my sudden obvious crush on her (ugh, that word is so juvenile and I wish it didn't describe me right now) is going to give me an aneurism if we keep accidentally brushing hands as we walk. It's about time we sat down again.