New Semester New Seats - Part 3

Several periods later, the bell rang for lunch, and all the students quickly got up from their seats.

The entire classroom was filled with the sounds of seats rumbling and subtle chatter. I was in no rush to leave, however, so I decided to stay seated and wait until the horde had left. I began taking my belongings off my desk and placing them in my bag since we had PE class last period. People scampered out of the classroom, and I looked over at Fujiharu, who also appeared to be staying behind for a little.

I took little notice of it and decided to finally get out of my seat. Most people who resided at the boarding facility generally got food from the canteen since it's included in the fees. However, whilst I was trained to be able to eat anything, I preferred more healthy food like sandwiches and fruit.

Just as I was grabbing my lunchbox out of my bag, Fujiharu called out to me.

"Mizuhara, you should come to eat lunch with us today."

"No thanks."

I wasn't sure who 'us' were, and I preferred to be alone whilst I was eating. I still hadn't finished the philosophy book that I'd been periodically reading throughout the day. I also suspected that this was part of her plan to make me fall for her. It's been pretty obvious that she's been paying special attention to me since I became her seatmate.

I'm trying to figure out what the underlying reason for this phenomenon was. It was completely possible that she simply spoke to her seatmates more, and thus they fell in love with her more often. That would appear to be a much more understandable reason than if she were purposely trying to make her seatmate fall in love with her for the purpose of rejecting them.

I guess it'd be a bit of time until I found out.

After failing to invite me to lunch with her, she didn't give up.

"Hey, where do you usually eat lunch?"

"Probably just in the classroom."

I had originally intended to eat in the cafeteria, but I didn't really want to get involved with anything that could be a hassle. In the end, I decided that the classroom would be a nice place to have my lunch—I didn't mind eating here anyways.

"Ah, how about I join you? Some of my friends are doing club activities, so I don't really have anyone to eat with."

It was quite hard to tell whether she was lying or not. It certainly seemed unlikely since she had previously invited me to eat lunch with her friends, but then again, it was possible that she had just invited me because she had no one to eat with.

"Suit yourself," I replied.

It was a little annoying since I preferred to be alone, but I didn't really care enough to seriously bother telling her to leave.

She seemed to be somewhat taken aback by my response and quietly took out her lunch. I guess I may have sounded a bit harsh.

Today, I brought an apple and a ham and cheese sandwich I made myself. I usually didn't cut my sandwiches into four pieces, but I decided to today since that's what many of the other students did. I didn't really understand the appeal. I guess it was so you didn't have to eat the crust first? But you still had to eat the crust in the end...

As I contemplated the sanctity of a sandwich's structural integrity, Fujiharu lifted the lid on a cute little bento lunch. All of the different parts of the meal were separated, from rice shaped like little chickens to a small egg roll with a flag on top to tiny bite-sized vegetables. It looked like something that would have taken lots of work to make.

She looked over at me as she took out her chopsticks.

"Hey, do you want to try some?"

I didn't really want any. I had packed enough food to suffice myself. I generally liked to control the amount of food I ate so I could get the right amounts of calories. However, it probably would make my life more interesting if I actually went out and tried new things.

After thinking about it for a little, I agreed.

"Just a little."

She smiled and grabbed an egg roll with her chopsticks.

"Say ah~"

I opened my mouth.

She placed the bite-sized egg roll into my mouth, and I munched down on the food I was given. It didn't taste that special. It was just as you'd expect—egg-flavoured.

"Thanks."

"Aren't you going to give me something in return?"

I looked down at my sandwich. It was a little awkward since I had just eaten some of her food, so holding onto my own food would seem a little selfish—I suppose I could spare a slice of my sandwich.

I grabbed a single triangle of my sandwich and passed it to her.

"Here."

She didn't seem to accept it.

"Aren't you going to feed it to me?"

"No."

"Eh~"

Begrudgingly, she accepted the sandwich in her hand and took small bites out of it. She probably wouldn't like my food all that much since it was pretty bland. I never really cared about the taste of the things I packed myself.

"Did you make this yourself?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"You should try adding some sauces or more vegetables to it."

I could, but I didn't exactly have a great deal of spare cash either. I had to ration if I wanted to go through high school with the savings from my earlier days. The food I made had enough of every nutrient, so it was good enough for me.

I picked up Nietzsche on Truth and Philosophy and began reading it as I ate my lunch. Fujiharu was also busy eating lunch, so the two of us didn't talk to each other for a little while. I read the line, 'you must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.' I pondered the non-literal meanings of the quote. However, I didn't need to ponder for too long.

"Hey Mizuharu, are you free tomorrow afternoon?" she asked.