Ch.3Chapter 1. A Familiar Year (3)

It was only after I sat down in front of my homeroom teacher that I realized students were still in the middle of class.

So the fact that I was able to meet my homeroom teacher as soon as I arrived at school was purely because I was lucky.

When I realized this, I felt a chill run down my spine.

If I hadn’t been careful, I might have ended up waiting blankly in the faculty office with shoes in hand for my homeroom teacher to return, with more than half the seats empty.

And when leaving, I would have run into students coming out to enjoy their break after class ended.

…I want to go home.

I’m not sure if I can call that place my home, but I want to go back and crawl under the blanket to sleep.

Though I don’t even have a blanket.

Damn it.

“Um… so, Miss Kurosawa?”

“Yes.”

After seating me in the chair of a teacher who was currently absent, Teacher Suzuki turned to face me, her expression complicated in many ways.

I could feel glances in my direction from the moment I entered the faculty office.

…Come to think of it, I came here without properly fixing my hair. For some reason, people seemed startled whenever I asked for directions.

“Well… maybe you should put your shoes down first?”

I looked down at the floor.

It was a shiny, clean wooden floor.

“It’s fine.”

Is it really fine?

I carefully placed my shoes on the floor.

Well, it’s not like I stepped in anything strange on the way here, so the floor wouldn’t get particularly dirty from my shoe soles touching it.

“So, Miss Kurosawa?”

Not knowing how to start the conversation, the teacher called my name again.

“May I ask why you didn’t come to school last week?”

“……”

That’s a tough question right from the start.

Well, it was a reasonable question to begin with.

By the way, the original owner of this body… though I’m not sure if such a person exists or not, but anyway, it seems this body hasn’t come to school even once since the semester began.

So it wasn’t just about missing one day that prompted a phone call.

“You don’t have to answer if it’s difficult.”

Thankfully, she’s a kind and understanding teacher.

In reality, it wasn’t that I didn’t want to answer, but that I had nothing to say.

“But, Miss Kurosawa. Wouldn’t it be better to attend school properly? Of course, your circumstances might be difficult, but how about asking adults around you for help?”

“……”

Circumstances.

They weren’t particularly good.

The most critical issue was that Tokyo’s trains were operated by private companies.

“…I’ll come properly starting tomorrow.”

But it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t come because of transportation costs.

If I wake up early, walk to the station, and then take the subway, it should be manageable.

Though it would take about an hour and a half.

“Oh, yes, that’s good.”

She seemed at a loss for words after I said that.

“So…”

Teacher Suzuki rolled her eyes around and said.

“Would you like to attend classes? Since you’re already at school, how about properly attending classes starting today?”

“……”

Ah, I’d rather not.

If I had just shown up properly at school this morning after not coming until yesterday, I might have been treated as a bit odd, but I could have quietly crumpled into a corner.

But now it’s not before the day starts, nor is it lunchtime.

She wants me to go in during the break after class and just sit there?

Isn’t that too difficult?

Perhaps my feelings showed on my face, because Teacher Suzuki quickly continued.

“All the students in the class are nice kids. Especially the class president, who was worried when you didn’t show up. I’m sure there won’t be any major problems even if you go in now.”

Class president?

Did the character of Class 1-B’s president appear in the novel?

I searched through my dim memories, but nothing came to mind, which suggests that even if they did appear, they didn’t play a significant role.

More importantly, they were worried about me?

Could it be that Kotone Kurosawa had acquaintances?

As I was lost in thought, Teacher Suzuki raised her left hand to look at her wrist. She had a small wristwatch.

No smart watches in this era.

It’s even before the term “smart” became popular. If anything, this period could still be called the “digital” age, couldn’t it?

“Yes. The class is almost over. I’ll guide you to the classroom. Oh, and those shoes…”

Teacher Suzuki looked at the shoes I had put down with a bitter smile.

Then she stood up and said.

“Will you follow me? I’ll help you find your shoe locker.”

She’s a nice person.

A character fitting the archetype of an ideal teacher often found in novels.

Unfortunately, the students at this school aren’t all ideal. The same goes for the teachers.

It’s somewhat reassuring that this teacher and the protagonist’s homeroom teacher are normal.

Teacher Suzuki took me to the shoe lockers, found my compartment, and even gave me indoor shoes that more or less fit my feet, though I’m not sure where she got them from.

“Thank you.”

“It’s nothing, just my duty as your homeroom teacher.”

My words made Teacher Suzuki’s shoulders rise slightly.

A teacher who hasn’t been appointed for long but somehow ended up in charge of a first-year class.

She must have been really anxious when I wasn’t coming to school. Thinking there was such a problem student in the first class she was put in charge of.

…

“By the way, what about textbooks…”

“…Huh?”

When I belatedly realized I didn’t have textbooks and asked, Teacher Suzuki immediately looked dumbfounded.

*

“…And so, Miss Kurosawa will be joining you all from today. Please get along well with each other.”

Ah, I really want to die.

Being introduced like a transfer student when I’m not even one.

And during break time, no less.

The time I arrived at school was incredibly awkward, right in the middle of the third period.

Teacher Suzuki wanted to introduce me when all the students were in the classroom before they left for break, so she brought me to the front of the classroom a few minutes before the class ended.

So even before I entered, curious students were already looking at me through the window.

Unfortunately, there were windows facing the corridor, and for ventilation or whatever reason, those windows were even left open.

I thought the students would look gloomy because of the drab sailor uniform, but their faces were brighter than I expected, perhaps because they had just become high school students.

And once again, I realized that this school had high deviation scores and expensive tuition.

They must all be from well-off families, surely.

“Now, Miss Kurosawa’s seat is over there.”

The seat the teacher led me to was… in the front row.

And it was in the middle, almost touching the teacher’s desk.

That makes sense. This seat would be the least popular. It seems this class determined student seating by who sat where on the first day.

Suppressing my embarrassment, I sat down. I hung my bag on the side of the desk.

The power of 2004 was stronger than I thought.

From a 2024 perspective, one might ask, “What has actually changed in 20 years?” but in fact, many things have changed during that time.

Even excluding visible technological advancements like smartphones, there’s notably the “birth rate.”

Yes, in the 2000s, there were far more high school students than in the 2020s.

This classroom was also filled with students.

I can feel gazes gathering on the back of my head. Of course, no actual lasers were coming out of people’s eyes, so it was just my imagination, but in reality, it probably wasn’t far from the truth.

“I’ll introduce you again during the homeroom meeting.”

Teacher Suzuki lightly placed her hand on my shoulder, winked, and then turned to leave the classroom.

“……”

There was a moment of silence in the classroom, and then murmuring began.

It’s a co-ed school, I should say.

The feeling of hearing both boys’ and girls’ voices simultaneously was somewhat peculiar.

…When I was younger, I had wished for a co-ed school like this. Especially one from a light novel.

I wonder why I’m not happy about it at all now.

I was hoping time would pass quickly and class would start again when someone poked my back from behind.

“……”

I slowly turned around.

The girl resting her chin on one hand had neat, shoulder-length hair and wore slightly thick glasses.

Perhaps because she was wearing a sailor uniform, she gave off a somewhat classical impression of a beautiful girl.

…No, it’s 2004, so can it be called classical?

“Hello.”

The face of the girl greeting me with such a friendly demeanor was also unfamiliar to me.

“You’re Kurosawa, right? Is it okay to call you that?”

“…Just Kurosawa is fine.”

I’ve only skimmed Japanese culture through manga, so I’m not sure how naming conventions work between people.

However, I do know that asking to be called by your first name at a first meeting is somewhat difficult.

“Really? Then I’ll call you Kurosawa.”

The girl showed a slight smile at the corner of her mouth and said.

“I’m Mako Miura. The class president.”

She’s the class president, but did she not want to sit in the seat I’m in?

But certainly, after hearing that self-introduction, she did have a diligent impression. What you might call a typical class president character.

And—

“Miss Miura?”

“You can just call me Miura.”

“…Miura.”

“Yes. Nice to meet you.”

“…Nice to meet you.”

Not knowing what to say, I just repeated after her.

I had never even had a conversation with a high school girl before.

I have no idea how to continue the conversation.

Besides—

Miura.

Hearing the name Miura, something felt off.

The problem is that I’m not sure exactly why.

There have been characters called Miura in quite a few works.

“……”

Above all, even trying to recall as much as possible from that 20-year-old work, there was no major character named “Miura.”

Or could it be the “Mako” part?

For this one, I could say with surprising certainty that it wasn’t.

At least among the characters the protagonist called by name, there was no character named Mako.

“Next class.”

“Huh?”

“Do you know what the next class is?”

“Oh, no.”

“The next class is—”

Class B’s president was also kind.

And that made me even more puzzled.

Nice, good-natured, with looks that wouldn’t be out of place as a main character.

And if her name rang a bell, she surely must have appeared in that novel.

In the end, I couldn’t recall the reason until the bell rang to signal the start of the next class.