CHAPTER ONE – The meeting

I hate this town. I hate this town. Because it`s a place stained with memories I want to forget. Every day, I go to school, take lessons, chatwith friends, and go to a home I don`t want to go to. Nothing new ever happens.

"I wonder if anything will ever change like this..."

The growth of this town is very natural and untouched.The weaving around hills to get to school. I wonder how convenient it would be to attend school if you could clear off all these hills.If I took a straight path, it`d probably cut down my walking time by twenty min. If I took a straight path, it`d probably cut down my walking time by twenty minutes.

"One day, twenty minutes... So then, how much time will I save over a year...?"

I do the math as I walk.

"Ahhh, I don`t know..."

There are no other students from my school here. Normally, since this is the main path to school, it would be bristling with them. It`s not like today is a holiday or anything. Which means... it isn`t the time when students arrive to school anymore. But, ignoring this laid back image, I keep onwalking at the same speed.... Two hundred meters until I reach the school gates. I stand still for once.

"Huh…" I sighed, looking up towards the sky.

The school gates were just up ahead. Who preferred to stick the gates all the way up there? This long road stretches out like a nightmare.

"Sigh..." A different breath from mine, small and more gentle than my own. I look beside me.

And there was a girl, standing still like me. I can tell that she`s a third year student from the color of her badge. But she wasn`t someone I was familiar with. The short hair she has stretches down to her shoulders, fluttering in the wind.

"..." It looks like she`s about to cry. I don`t usually judge people, but she seems quite honest...She looks like the type that would have a problem going into class alone. She looks like the type that would have a problem going into class alone.

"Okay..." As if she has something to tell herself, she closes her eyes and nods repeatedly for a few moments.

"Anpan.." Then, she opens her eyes. Firmly, she looks upon the tall school gate.

"Do you like this school?"

"Huh...?"

No, she wasn`t asking me. She was asking someone in her mind. I wonder how that guy (or girl) responded.

"I really, really do."

"But, nothing... can remain the same."

"Even fun things and happy things."

"Nothing stays that way forever." With great difficulty, she continues to speak.

"Even then, can you still bring yourself to like this place?"...

"I..."

"It`s fine if you find it, right?" I finally open my mouth.

"Huh...?" Surprised, she looks at me. As if she believed that she was alone up until now.

"It`s fine if you find the next thing that`s fun or happy, right?"

"It`s wrong to think that there`s only one such thing that`ll do that."

"..." That`s right.Times when we were innocent and naive...We were all once like that.

"Come on, let`s go."