Echoes of Solitude

Strength and Weakness

"Eh? T-then Ryuuen-san, what do we do then?"

I stood up from my chair and cracked my knuckles.

"This is what we're going to fucking do... Kuku..."

———

The class was whispering among themselves.

Despite it being the first of the month, we haven't received our private points yet. This is an odd occurrence, as far as I am aware, we haven't done anything to decrease our Class Points to zero.

In fact, I find it more likely that our Class Points would increase due to the good results on the midterm.

Ayanokouji-kun, whom I would regularly meet in the morning before class, hasn't arrived as of yet.

So I turned to my right and began speaking to Ibuki-san.

"Ibuki-san, do you have any idea of what might have happened?" I asked her.

"Tch. I'm not smart at all, Shiina. I don't have the capacity to make up some grand reasoning behind this situation, so don't even bother me about it."

Ibuki-san has always been... A difficult person to speak to. However, today she seems more angered than she normally is.

Perhaps she too, is bothered by the situation.

"Ibuki-san, I sincerely apologize if it seemed like I was insulting your intelligence in any form."

"No... That's not it. I didn't think of it that way." She muttered to herself.

"But we shouldn't sulk over it. Let's try our best not to stress over it and find ways to resolve it, okay?" I smiled.

Ibuki looked at me speechless for a second, before sighing.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to sound angry to you like that, Shiina." She said in a tone unlike her usual harsh voice.

"Mm. It's alright, Ibuki-san. We all have our bad days, so please don't worry about it."

"Are you a fuckin' angel or something?" Ibuki muttered under her breath.

Just then, three boys walked into the classroom. It was Ishizaki-san, Kondou-san, and one other boy I haven't talked to as of yet.

The three of them appeared terribly wounded as if they entered a fight. They sulked as they walked towards their seats.

"Eh... I wonder what happened to them..." I thought out loud.

"Probably got into some stupid fight. It's just men being men." Ibuki-san suggested.

"Ibuki-san, I apologize for speaking out like so, but that comment of yours was somewhat sexist." I commented.

"Hah? Well they are men, are they not? I don't see a massive pair of tits on their fucking chests. I was just saying that they got into a fight, and it happens that they are men."

Such a strange argument. However, it is not worth further pushing the subject to avoid conflict with Ibuki.

Shortly afterwards, Ayanokouji-kun walked into the class.

As he passed by me, he looked at both Ibuki-san and I before saying:

"Good morning, Ibuki. It's quite rare to see you talking. Are you in a good mood today?"

"Shut the fuck up, Ayanokouji. I'm only talking to Shiina because she's treating me nicely." She exclaimed.

"I guess you aren't very much in a good mood. It seems I was wrong." He sighed.