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Chapter 2 – The Trigger \n Volume 1\n<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide">\n(TN: this chapter comes after interlude. If you haven’t read it, you can navigate from this page back)\n\n
The change came suddenly.\n\n
The next week.\n
I was in a depressed mood.\n
Last week, I went home to escape. I think it was a very irresponsible thing to do. I left the place a mess after exposing my ugly figure. After that, both Nishikawa and Fujisaki must have been appalled. I’m sure both of them didn’t understand what was going on.\n
To Nishikawa, I felt bad that I had asked her for her cooperation and then let it go to waste\n
.\n
For Fujisaki, I felt guilty that I had broken my promise to cooperate with her.\n
I didn’t know what kind of face I should make when I met her. It seemed that I had received a message from them on my message app, but I was too scared to look at it. All through the whole weekend, I was wondering what I should do.\n
When I reached the door of the classroom, I took a deep breath.\n
Calm down. Maybe neither of them cares much.\n
Then I put my hand on the sliding door and opened it at once.\n
A scene as usual. Half of the students were already in class, and I could hear them chatting. The morning sun was shining through the lace curtains.\n
It was business as usual. It should be the same as always. But then I thought.\n
Something was wrong.\n
It wasn’t that I heard a strange sound or saw a strange object. It was just that as I stood in front of the entrance and was about to step in, as usual, a strange feeling landed in my mind without a sound as if it had fallen from the sky.\n
Sure, I’m more nervous than usual. I’m worried about the fact that I messed up last week and exposed my ugly self to my classmates in a way that I shouldn’t have.\n
But it’s not just that. There was something else, something more crucial.\n
I looked around the classroom …… and eventually realized.\n
The very front seat by the window, where I usually sit. As I traced back from there, I found a female student sitting on a usually empty chair.\n
Risa Enami.\n
Regular late-comer. The most beautiful girl in the class. She is a cold-hearted woman who doesn’t take anyone seriously.\n
She was sitting comfortably in the classroom before the start of the school day.\n
The morning sun was shining on her, and she was squinting her eyes, looking out the window, resting her hand on her cheek, and looking bored.\n
This was the true nature of my discomfort.\n
–Eh? Why?\n
It’s strange, since the beginning of the second semester, she has never been on time for school. Forgetting what had been bothering me earlier, my mouth dropped open.\n
My classmates were also glancing at Enami-san as they chatted. I felt a strong sense of discomfort that Enami-san was in the classroom in the morning. It was supposed to be a normal thing, but I felt as if something extraordinary had happened.\n
As I stood there for a while, I felt a tap on my shoulder.\n
“Ookusu. What are you standing there for?”\n
I turned around and saw Shindo. And I asked, blinking repeatedly.\n
“Hey, what do you see in the back seat by the window?”\n
“Hmm?”\n
Shindo also turned his gaze toward Enami-san. Eh? Shindo also looked at Enami-san.\n
“‘That’s rare……. That delinquent is here on time, isn’t she?”\n
“That’s right. Yeah, that’s what it looks like to you too.”\n
As it turns out, I’m not mistaken.\n
I wonder how long it’s been. Come to think of it, I don’t think she’s been on time at all lately.\n
It’s not just lately, but I’m not going to say that.\n
“Well, it’s none of our business. Nothing good will come from getting involved with that delinquent.”\n
“Oh, yeah.”\n
We each took our seats, trying to avoid looking at Enami-san as much as possible. It seems that Nishikawa and Fujisaki have not yet arrived at school.\n
I’ve been wondering about Enami-san even after I got to my seat. I had just dared her to come to school last week. I knew she would be late anyway, so I wasn’t aware of it when I entered the classroom.\n
I was taken by surprise.\n
I took out my study materials from my bag. I picked up a pen to study by myself, but the mysterious pressure coming from behind me made me lose attention. Enami-san must have noticed my presence as I took my seat. I’m sure she’s angry. And the pressure I now feel from behind my back must be the angry gaze of Enami-san.\n
I try my best not to be aware of her and look through the problem book. Normally, I should be able to get my head around this, but my eyes slip. A simple integral problem seems to be so far away.\n
Still, as I struggled to move my pen, I suddenly felt the presence of someone beside me. I wondered who it was. When I looked up, I was so surprised that I lost my voice.\n
For some reason, Enami-san was standing there. She looked down at me and said,\n
“Good morning.”\n
Her face was expressionless. And she was looking at me intently.\n
“Huh?”\n
What? Did she just greet me? That’s Enami-san. Why?\n
But I can’t read her emotions. I had no choice but to reply.\n
“G, Good morning.?”\n
Hearing those words, Enami-san goes back to her seat. I turned around and made eye contact with Shindo. Shindo seemed to be surprised as well, his mouth pursed and his head tilted.\n
Perhaps it was a whim. If I didn’t think so, I wouldn’t have been able to endure the feeling of dread.\n\n\n
–However, this was only the beginning.\n\n
<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide">\nTN: Reading this chapter and the next was somewhat satisfying.. like the OP hero mows down enemies easily.\n