Fujiharu's Offensive - Part 1

It was another seemingly normal morning when I walked into the classroom.

Unlike the previous day, only Fujiharu was seated.

I guess she's still committed to arriving earlier than me.

"Hey, Mizuhara!"

"Hi, Fujiharu."

As I took my seat beside her, I noticed that something appeared to be bothering her. She was obviously restless for one reason or another.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

All of a sudden, she looked at me with an awkward grin.

Huh?

"Did you do your homework last night... Ayato?"

Oh, she's using my first name now.

As I looked at her, it seemed her face was starting to turn red.

"Yeah, I finished last night's homework."

As soon as she heard my response, all the embarrassment disappeared from her face. Instead, she stuck her hand into her bag. After a little bit of ruffling, she pulled out something that looked like some tickets.

"Um, do you want to go to the aquarium with me?" She asked.

"Sure."

She then responded with a bright beaming smile.

All of this was pretty stock standard now but for some reason, I couldn't help but feel as if those tickets appeared suspicious—in a different way than usual.

There was a specific reason why I wanted to go with her.

*

After school, I made my way straight back toward my dorm since I didn't have anything on. As I walked back, I couldn't help but think about how busy my life has become.

Eventually, I unlocked the door to my dorm and took a seat on my bed. The springs squeaked a little bit as I sat on my mattress—I guess the bed was getting a little bit old. I wondered why the man took my copy of The Tachibana System yesterday.

There was only one reason I could think of.

A few minutes later, I heard a knock on my door.

I walked over and opened the door, it seemed to have come as a shock to the person on the other side.

"Ah, M-mizuhara..."

"Oh, you're here already?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, come in then."

Kinoshita was already coming over. I had expected her to come a little later but it didn't really matter to me, I didn't have anything I needed to do today. Kanako had some sort of school excursion so she wasn't going to be home which meant that I would get a short break from tutoring her.

We had left the Monopoly set in my room overnight so I took it off of my cupboard and placed it on the ground. I set up the position we were at last night from memory and passed the dice to her.

"It was your turn," I said.

"How did you remember where everything was?"

"I took a photo of it last night."

"Ah, I must have been too sleepy, I hardly even remember what happened."

We played from where we left off the previous night and slowly, she was getting the lead and bringing the game closer to an end.

I looked over at Kinoshita who seemed to be searching something up on her phone.

"U-um... Mizuhara, what's the best gift you've ever been given?"

It was an odd question—I wasn't expecting it at all. I had a sneaking suspicion that she may have been searching up conversation starters on her phone.

Now that I thought about it, I haven't really received many gifts. In fact, I think the only gift I've ever really gotten was from Tachibana Kohei. It would've been a bit awkward if I answered too honestly, I decided to just make something up.

"Uh, I guess it would be my phone."

I technically purchased my phone myself but it didn't really matter.

"Ah, that's cool, who gave it to you?"

"Um, my mother did."

"That's nice~"

We continued to play in silence for a little while before Kinoshita decided to speak to me again.

"Mizuhara, do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"I have a sister."

"Ooh! How old is she?"

"Um, she's turning 18 this year."

At least, that's what I assumed she was.

"Oh, does she also go to this school?"

"No."

"Which school does she go to?"

I honestly had no idea.

I didn't really want to talk about this anymore, it was going to be rather awkward if I had to explain my entire family situation to her.

"Some other school."

"Ah."

"Anyways, are you going to buy the property?" I asked.

She quickly looked down at the board and thought for a little.

"I think I'll get it."

"Alright."

She handed the dice back over to me and I rolled them onto the board.

Slowly but surely, the game was coming to a close. I had basically run out of money and she basically owned the entire board. I was practically destined to lose in the next few moves, at most, I might be able to survive landing on her properties once or twice.

I was getting a little bored with the game anyway.

After I lost the last few hundred dollars I had, the game officially finished.

"That was fun!" She announced.

"Yeah."

I cleared the board and began packing everything back into the box. I organised them a little so the inside of the box wouldn't be too messy.

"Well, I need to buy some groceries now."

"U-um, I'll come with you!"

"It's fine, the supermarket's pretty far away, you don't have to come."

"I insist!"

"Well, if you want to then alright."

I didn't really care that much either way. The two of us were still in our school uniform but I didn't really have an opportunity to get changed. I decided to just put on my shoes and make my way outside. The supermarket was around a twenty-minute walk from the dorms, I walked through the schoolyard, eventually leaving the school premises.

Kinoshita walked beside me as we made the journey to the supermarket. I had several things I wanted to buy including shampoo and some ingredients for lunch the next day. I had just run out of bread and fruit.

We eventually arrived at the supermarket and I purchased everything I needed.

Kinoshita bought some snacks before following behind me.

"By the way, Kinoshita, who's your roommate?"

"Oh, she's Nishimura Yui from the year above us."

"Ah, so your roommate's an upperclassman?"

"Yeah."

I hadn't heard of the Nishimura Yui before.

After a little while, we arrived back at the dorms, and Kinoshita decided to return to her room.

"Bye Mizuhara~"

"Bye."

I made my way back into my own room, finally being able to get some peace and quiet. I pulled out Being and Nothingness, which I still hadn't finished and began reading through the last few pages.

For some reason, Fujiharu's invitation to the aquarium seemed a little odd. It didn't have its usual feel to it.