When life gets hard…
Do you reach out to someone?
No, of course not. You buy antidepressants.
At least that's what the commercials would have you believe.
No-Ai Unmei is an average 17-year-old high school student with short brown hair and black eyes. He's currently standing in the corner of a convenience store holding a box of antidepressants, looking at them as if he's deciding whether to buy them or not.
Unmei got lost in his thoughts while holding them, "I don't understand the need for these…"
Turns out he didn't need them, so he then placed the box back on the shelf, though they were full anyway. Clearly, nobody else needed them either, or maybe they didn't make it on time.
I guess he didn't want them…
Unmei unfolded a wrinkled grocery list from his pocket, handwritten by his mother, and moved on to the food aisle.
--
The summer heat clung to the streets as Unmei walked home, plastic bag swinging at his side. Inside, alongside the groceries, was a small wooden box—hidden just well enough that his mother wouldn't notice.
Groups of laughing students passed him, their voices too loud, their smiles too bright. Unmei thinks to himself-
"How come people always have such large groups of friends? What's the point?"
A billboard loomed overhead—a woman with perfect hair and an almost too perfect smile advertised Rent a Girlfriend.com in bold pink letters.
"Girlfriend? No way."
His father's voice echoed in his head before he could even entertain the thought.
"Rule number one: Don't get a girlfriend until after you finish all of your schooling. You must focus on your studies, and they only cause trouble."
Unmei shook his head violently, as if dislodging the idea. He had broken one of his father's rules before—a stolen pack of gum at seven years old hardly counted—but this? This was different.
"I'm home," Unmei called, toeing off his shoes at the genkan.
His mother, Sumirei, stood at the stove, the scent of miso soup curling through the air. She turned, eyes flicking to the grocery bag.
"Oh, you went to the store?"
"Figured I'd save you the trip," he said, dumping the contents onto the counter.
Sumirei beamed, pulling him into a hug. "Look at you, being so responsible!" Unmei squirmed free. "It's not a big deal."
"So," she smirked, leaning against the counter, "talk any pretty girls on your way back?"
"Mother–"
"What? Can't I tease my own son?"
"Not about that," he grumbled, heading toward the stairs. "I'm going to my room."
"Don't play your games too loud! The neighbors have guests over."
Got it."
Unmei heads to his room to play an hour or so of BuildCraft before heading downstairs to eat the meal his mother had prepared.
Later, Unmei looks at his incoming friend requests on SapChat
"Huh? New friend request. Who's this? Maybe my memory has gone, but I can't say I know anyone named Ayame… Either way, summer break is over and the second semester starts again tomorrow, so I've got other things to focus on."
Unmei shuts off his gaming console and tucks the box beneath his nightstand before flopping onto his bed.
--
The next morning, Unmei's phone buzzed itself off the nightstand, and in his groggy attempt to catch it, Unmei tumbled straight onto the floor. He groaned, rubbing his forehead.
Just like every other morning, Unmei does his daily workout of 55 push-ups, 55 sit-ups, 55 squats, and 5.5 km run— wait, no, there's no time for a run.
…Unmei seems ready to go to school, but why is he putting on a headband? Wait- it looks like he's about to start running– does he really need to run to make it on time?
Unmei tied the headband with dramatic flair, squared his shoulders, and then remembered school was only three blocks away.
With a sigh, he yanked it off and tossed it into the trash.
Well, that was dramatic. The school is only a few blocks away. I wonder what that was about…
When Unmei arrives at Omiya Kita High School, the hallway is full of reunions and chaos. As he walked through the halls, he seemingly ignored the many groups of girls timidly looking at him (or maybe he just didn't notice them) and headed for his locker.
Then he notices something off, the nameplate beside him had changed.
"Hizashi Saku…?"
"Hey! Unmei!" Yamato slapped his back, grinning. "How's it going? I didn't see you during the summer even once!"
"Hey, Yamato! I'm doing okay. How was your summer break?"
"Pretty good, though it was lame not seeing you at all for the whole-" Yamato is cut off by a sudden shout from down the hallway.
Unmei mumbles under his breath— "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me . . ."
"YOU OWE ME MONEY!!!" yells Hakuchi Orokana while holding Furukawa Denki by the collar of his shirt.
"Says who!?" Denki pulls away from Orokana's grip.
"I SAY SO!!"
"It was a bet for 1200 yen, it's not a big deal!!"
"I DON'T CARE, IF YOU DON'T GET ME THE MONEY-" Unmei interrupts him, "Hey Denki, everything alright with you two?"
Denki looks at Unmei and begins to tear up. "Unmei! You've gotta help me, I don't have the money…"
Unmei sighed, dug out ¥1200, and handed it over to Orokana without a word. Orokana calmed his expression and walked away muttering something under his breath.
"You can't keep doing this," says Unmei as he gives Denki a concerned but equally annoyed look. Denki grins. "Sorry, man. But how else am I going to be able to buy more RoBlucks–" His eyes darted past Unmei. "Oh wow, check out that girl."
When Unmei turns his head to see who Denki was talking about, he sees a girl with long black hair walking by. For a moment, each strand of her hair seems to glisten in the sunlight coming through the windows.
Yamato whistled. "She really is gorgeous… I don't recognize her, though. Is she in our grade?"
Denki is in awe, "I don't know, but I've definitely gotta go ask her out-"
Unmei turns back around and knocks their heads together. "Knock it off, I don't feel like seeing you get rejected again. Now, let's get to class; we'll be late." The girl passed by, seemingly on her way to class, without paying any attention to them.
Unmei's on his way to class now, I suppose that means I should get going too…
The bell rings.
--
Unmei finds one of the last empty seats in the back corner and sits down just in time to not be late. Unmei doesn't lift his head from his desk, so he doesn't notice that the same girl from earlier had taken the seat to his right.
"Alright, welcome back class 2B, I hope you all enjoyed your summer vacation and are well refreshed for the second semester." Tokimune Kikuiri, Unmei's homeroom teacher, has an energetic style of teaching and doesn't tend to get the same energy back that he gives off.
"Haha.. well, my break was pretty great— not that anyone asked— and as usual, I went traveling across the world, would you guys like to see the pictures I took? No..? Well, that's fine, we've got work to do."
"Though before we begin with today's lesson, we've got a new transfer student joining us today. Ms. Hizashi, would you please stand and introduce yourself to the class?"
"A new student?" people began mumbling, since there was rarely anyone transferring to this school. Seriously, despite it not necessarily being a bad school, it's a shock. Most of the time, the reason the people who go to Omiya Kita are at this high school is because they were either forced to, or they live too far from any other school.
"Oh..uh, okay…"
The sitting girl next to Unmei then stands up and walks to the front of the class.
"Uhm.. h-hello… my name is..uh.. Hizashi.. Saku.. and…uhm- I'm from Wakayama and- uh…uhm …Thank you."
Saku quickly walks to her seat and sits back down
"Thank you, Hizashi. Now that that's finished, let's get on with today's lesson, take out your books and turn to page-" Mr. Tokimune's words seem to fade away as Unmei loses focus.
A few minutes later, someone leans over and whispers in Unmei's ear.
"Pst! Unmei!! Oh Unmei!!", Unmei brings his head up from his desk to see who it was, but Mr. Tokimune noticed her before Unmei could.
"Sato! What is so important that you feel the need to disrupt my lesson?" Ayame's attention turns to the front of the class.
Startled at how he had been able to hear her, she mumbles under her breath, "Is this guy some sort of bat?" Thankfully, he didn't hear her this time because Mr. Tokimune is quite sensitive when it comes to the size of his ears.
"Oh..I'm sorry, sir. It's.. it's nothing important.." She puts her head down to avoid gaining more unwanted attention, or rather to pretend she didn't have any.
"Oh no, I'm sure it's very important. Because absolutely everything teenagers have to say is important, so why don't you share it with the rest of the class?" Mr. Tokimune persists, seemingly agitating her on purpose.
"huh.. What's going on?" Unmei thought to himself. At this point, he had gone back to his own thoughts, not really paying attention to what was happening at the front of the class.
Back to Sato Ayame, she seemingly misunderstands Mr. Tokimune and begins to explain what she had intended to tell Unmei.
"Well.. I just wanted to.. confess, erm.. my feelings for uh-"
Mr. Tokimune sighs, "That's enough, tell your diary about it later. Now, go sit down and try to pay attention this time, Sato."
Ayame lets go of the breath she was holding, "Yes, sir." She walks to her seat, eyes glued to the floor, and sits back down.
"Alright, back to the lesson. So we learned that the…" Unmei once again falls back into his own thoughts, and he begins to draw in his notebook. Unmei already has A's in every class, so he isn't too concerned about paying attention. Besides, he can always look up the lesson later, like he usually does.
Unmei seems to be drawing something. Even last semester, he didn't pay attention much. But doesn't he have like one of the highest marks in our grade?
Meanwhile, Ayame, back in her seat, looks over at Unmei almost as if she were expecting him to say something.
"Why isn't he saying anything?? Did he.. no.. HE DIDN'T HEAR ME? THIS IS BLASPHEMY, AN OFFENSE OF THE HIGHEST ORDER! WHY DIDN'T HE LISTEN? I WAS OBVIOUSLY SPEAKING RIGHT TO HIM! UHGGGGG HATE HATE HATE HATE HAAAAAAAAAAAATE!" She thinks to herself in anger, almost as if having a fit in her head.
Ayame may be angry, but on the outside, it isn't obvious at all. Her face remains composed, and her thoughts shift, "Unmei's like… way cute though. There's no way he doesn't like me, so maybe he just zoned out. Right?" Ayame giggles to herself, turning a few heads, but she doesn't notice.
A little while later, the bell rings.
"Oh.. is it already time for lunch?" Unmei had been caught up in his drawing and didn't notice how much time had passed.
Looks like Unmei just woke up from a trance, though I suppose he can afford to not pay attention. Still not sure how he does it though…
--
Unmei's going over to the cafeteria with Yamato and Denki to buy some food, just like he always does.. I assume they'll be heading to that same bench in the courtyard, then.
"Unmei, I've been wondering..."
Unmei turns to face Denki.
"Wondering what?"
Denki seems a little… giddy, leaving Unmei worried he's going to confess his love for him or suggest they start a boy band.
"Well, since we didn't do anything together over summer break, I thought maybe we should go out somewhere and do something."
Unmei feels relieved that's all Denki had on his mind; his focus then shifts to what Denki had said.
"I mean, it's true we didn't do anything over summer break…"
Yamato chimes in after seemingly not paying attention, at least Unmei thought so.
"Go out..? What would we even do?"
Denki's expression tightens.
"Well, I heard that in a few days from now there's gonna be a ballot to go on a trip to a fancy ski lodge in Hokkaido or something at the end of the second semester, for winter break. Everyone's signing up for it, and I think we should enter too. What do you guys think?"
Yamato's eyes light up, sort of like how any girl's eyes would when you mention Goto Sajoru from Jukutsu Jaisen.
"Oh yeah! I think I heard somebody mention that during my homeroom. We HAVE to sign up for it, don't you agree, Unmei?"
Unmei takes a moment to think, then sighs."Guys, I don't know.. We have school to worry about."
Denki has an almost insulted look on his face. "School? SCHOOL? Unmei, the trip is during winter vacation. Va- ca- tion. Remember that word? Seriously man, do you even hear yourself sometimes?"
Unmei usually spends winter vacation doing some sort of extra or missed schoolwork, but after spending all of summer vacation doing the same, maybe it wouldn't be so bad to take a break.
Yamato has the same annoyed look on his face. "Yeah, come on Unmei, it'll be fun."
Unmei turns his attention back to the bento box he'd packed himself this morning; he's more interested in his homemade takoyaki than anything.
Denki and Yamato cover their faces in a joyful grin.
"We'll take that as a yes!" They say simultaneously.
Yamato remembers something of seemingly no importance, "Wait, I heard that a total of 6 people will be going, 3 boys and 3 girls, right?"
"Yeah, I know, that's half the reason I brought it up! A week with 3 girls, plenty of time for the 'Denki charm' to work its magic!" Denki says as he's caressing his biceps. He's not as muscular as he imagines himself to be.
Yamato holds a laugh in his throat.
"The 'Denki Charm'? If I were a girl, I'd have smacked you."
Denki snaps back, "Oh come on man, I'm serious, it works just watch, I'll prove it to you now."
Meanwhile, Saku walks into the lunchroom looking around for a place to sit. Unfortunately for her, she just so happens to be the first girl Denki sees.
"HEY NEW GIRL, SABO-er or.. Whatever, WANNA COME SIT WITH ME?"
She must be deaf or something because she doesn't seem to notice him and walks in the opposite direction.
Denki is taken aback, "What? No way.. she must've not have heard me…"
Yamato's lungs struggle as he's clutching his chest, laughing. Unmei simply looks like a disappointed mother.
What on earth are those idiots up to now?