April 7th (Thursday) Yuta Asamura

● April 7 (Thursday) – Asamura

Yuu

Using a tablet in class was something I had experienced before. However, being recommended to purchase a personal laptop for the first time, and being told it would be used for creating and submitting reports, made me feel that this “recommendation” was essentially a “requirement.”

So, I went ahead and bought one in March.

Although I had been using a computer at home, this was my first laptop, and it felt quite refreshing. The key touch was light, and the screen was small. However, its lightweight nature made it a significant advantage for portability.

April 7. At last, my university life began.

I was told to bring my laptop from the very first day, so I did.

Once I entered the classroom, I was puzzled about how to choose a seat. Until now, I had only sat in university classrooms during exams, where seats were assigned. I hadn’t realized that at university, you could sit anywhere there was an open seat.

In other words, it was like a prep school. So, naturally, all the seats near the front of the classroom, where the lecturer’s voice could be easily heard, were already taken. Oh no, I thought, have I missed my chance?

Reluctantly, I settled into a seat somewhere in the middle. There wasn’t any particular reason for choosing that seat; it was simply the one that happened to be open.

To my left sat a boy with golden hair. When I asked, “Is this seat taken?” he replied, “Nah, it’s free.” At least, that’s how it sounded to me. I recognized it as a dialect from the Kansai region, but I could only tell it sounded somewhat like Osaka dialect. Perhaps because I had just visited there on a graduation trip, it felt nostalgic.

“What’s up?”

“Oh, nothing. Are you from Kansai?”

As I sat down and took my laptop out of my bag, I continued the conversation somewhat aimlessly.

“Ah, are you curious? I’m trying to fit in here, but it’s kind of turning out weird.”

So that’s why it sounded a bit off in Kansai dialect.

“I don’t think it sounds strange. I just came back from Osaka recently, so it feels nostalgic.”

The boy with the blonde hair, who upon closer inspection had black highlights, broke into a smile. He had a good build and was tall, and the stern look he had before melted away with his smile, making him appear slightly younger than I initially thought.

“Oh, really? The food was good, right?”

“Yeah, it was delicious.”

“Tokyo needs to step up its game. The food here is terrible. It’s not tasty at all!”

“Is it really that bad?”

“I’ve been here for about a week, and every day I’m just shouting, ‘I can’t believe I’m eating this awful food!'”

“No way.”

“In my hometown, I could have three helpings, but here, two is the limit. Seriously, they need to try harder—”

The blonde boy’s words were cut off as a voice came from my right, which had been empty until now.

“Is this seat taken?”

Turning towards the voice, I saw a slender boy with sleepy eyes standing there, looking a bit dazed. His skin was pale, almost unhealthily so, and he had long black hair tied halfway up with a thin string.

“It was free, so I think it’s fine.”

“Okay… Thanks.”

He said this softly and sat down without making a sound. Almost simultaneously, he pulled out his smartphone from his pocket and started doing something. Huh…?

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, um, well… the class is about to start.”

“The lecturer hasn’t arrived yet. I don’t want to waste time. I haven’t cleared my daily tasks yet.”

“Daily… tasks?”

“Yeah. There are three enemies I haven’t cleared yet…”

I caught a glimpse of his hands, and upon seeing the game displayed on his smartphone screen, I realized he was talking about daily quests or missions. These are small tasks meant to encourage players to engage with the game daily. I don’t play many games, but I’ve been lured into PC games a few times, so I understood.

“Wow, you’re really into that, huh?”

“Is that something you say to someone you just met? That’s rude.”

“What do you mean?”

“What’s that?”

Wait, wait, wait. Why are the two of them suddenly arguing with me in the middle? I looked back and forth between them, trying to calm things down, but just then, the front door of the classroom opened, and a man who seemed to be the lecturer walked in.

However, since I hadn’t even chosen my courses yet, there shouldn’t be a lecture starting right away. As expected, the man had come to explain the course registration process, handing out papers with the steps written on them and beginning a brief explanation.

I was impressed to learn that course registration was to be done using our laptops. Instead of filling out forms, we were encouraged to register online. So, we were expected to use our laptops right from the start. It’s true that if you don’t earn credits, you can’t graduate, and even the two who had been bickering quietly settled down to listen.

We proceeded to register for our courses using the laptops we had brought. After finishing the process, I looked around the classroom again. It seemed like the two people sitting next to me were among the most noticeable in the room.

And later, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of coincidence led us to meet again at the same welcome party for new students.

I had hoped to have encounters like those with Maru and Nara Saka at university.

But I never expected it would turn out like this.