The Day We First Spoke
Bian SIDE.
When I look back on the day Gachi and I first spoke, honestly, it wasn't a good day.
Because it was the day every effort I'd made had been completely denied.
Everyone has those moments—when you've poured everything into something and still don't get the result you wanted. That day, I didn't just fail to get what I wanted; I got the worst possible outcome.
Until the first-semester rankings were posted, I'd been confident. Sure, our school was full of high-achieving students, but I'd never once half-assed my studies, and even on exam days I'd expected satisfying results.
If there was someone who flew above those who ran, that someone was supposed to be me.
But the result was the complete opposite of what I'd expected. The overall ranking I saw on the site was 110th.
There were those who ran, those who flew above them... and above the ones who flew, there were those who rode them.
One hundred and nine of them, no less.
At our school—four classes per grade, thirty students each—that ranking put me firmly in the bottom tier.
"Sniff, sob."
Even after receiving such a shocking result, my stomach still growled, but I was too scared to go home, so I bought a cup of ramen at a nearby convenience store, intending to eat it.
But the moment I tried to eat, that ranking floated back up again.
Why, why... why...... I tried so hard. I worked so hard. I studied without sleeping. Why.........
"Isn't that ramen a little overcooked?"
"...Huh?"
While I was sitting there alone, looking pitifully at my ramen, someone spoke to me. My vision was blurred with tears, but the voice was a calm, mid-low tone.
He set a strawberry milk and a sandwich down in front of me and sat across from me.
"You can't eat overcooked ramen anyway, so eat this."
"Who... ah. You."
When I wiped my tears and looked, the person who'd spoken was someone I knew. Of course I did—he was one of the top students in our year.
"Go... Gachi?"
"Yeah. I was going to eat ramen too, but I happened to see you."
"..."
Still, most people wouldn't just casually talk to a girl who's crying.
I sniffled and looked at the sandwich Gachi had given me.
It was true—the overcooked ramen didn't look appetizing anymore, and my stomach was still begging for food.
"...Thanks for the food."
"Sure."
Munch munch.
To this day, I still can't forget the taste of that sandwich the moment I tore it open and took a bite.
The sandwich Gachi bought me was a strawberry sandwich. The sweetness of fresh strawberries and the strawberry jam spread on the bread filled my mouth evenly, and the texture of the bread that seemed to melt as I chewed made me feel good just from biting into it.
A sensation I probably never would have felt if I'd eaten the ramen.
People would call this sensation "delicious," I suppose.
"Munch munch... sniff... munch munch."
Even as I tasted that deliciousness, somehow I was feeling sorrow at the same time. I felt pathetic for continuing to eat the sandwich while feeling this sorrow, and yet I still wanted to keep eating it.
All these tangled emotions gradually made me more emotional, and I—
"Munch munch... sob sob... sniff."
Just wanted to cry.
"Munch... sob sob... waaaaah!!"
Slurp.
While I cried like that, Gachi simply ate his ramen in front of me.
Without saying a word of comfort or making any consoling gesture, he simply let me know he was there in front of me.
Leaning on that presence of his, I started crying even louder for no reason. Passersby looked at us strangely, but I didn't have the composure to care about their stares.
Of course, Gachi might have found those stares uncomfortable.
But he stayed by my side without a word. Did he know how comforting it was, when a girl was crying, not to offer empty consolation but simply to stay beside her?
Maybe Gachi was used to girls.
Yeah, that was probably it.
Gachi SIDE.
What do I do.
Bian suddenly started crying really hard...
Should I try to comfort her? But how?
...I don't know. That kind of thing isn't written in textbooks.
And now people walking by are starting to look at us, and those stares feel really uncomfortable.
...Just eat the ramen. Right, I came here to eat ramen.
Then I won't feel those stares at all.
Slurp.
It's good. Shin Ramyun really is the best. But is Bian still crying?
"Sniff, sniff... munch munch."
Bian was still crying, but she was eating the sandwich deliciously(?). Well, that's a relief at least.
I'd only bought it because it was the only sandwich left, but luckily it seemed to suit Bian's taste. Of course, that didn't mean her flowing tears had stopped.
Honestly I had no idea how to handle this situation, but once enough time passed I'd finish my ramen too. Then... I'd leave.
Yeah, thinking about it, even though we're in the same class, I'd never even spoken to this girl before—I'd gotten way too friendly.
"Phew."
And with perfect timing, I finished my ramen. I glanced at Bian, who'd also finished her sandwich, and was about to stand up when—
Suddenly I heard a beautiful voice that struck right to the heart.
"...Thank you. Thanks to you, I got to cry my heart out."
That beautiful voice belonged to Bian. Until just now it had been choked with tears so I hadn't noticed, but it was surprisingly soft and lovely.
"Gachi... you're more considerate than I thought."
...Huh? Me?
Ah, she means the sandwich. It wasn't even expensive, so she doesn't need to thank me.
"I didn't do anything special."
"Still... thank you for staying with me."
"I just came to eat ramen."
"Yeah... I know."
Bian looked at me with a quiet smile at my slightly dishonest words.
If smiles had scores, how many points would that smile get?
"If you're done eating, go home. The sky's getting dark."
Hearing me, Bian looked up at the sky.
Right now the sky was full of dark clouds. Enough to make you think rain might pour down any second.
"With clouds covering the whole sky, the sky itself won't be lonely—but if we get caught in the rain that falls from it, we won't feel so good."
A poetic expression that slipped out without thinking, from a romance novel Mom recommended saying it would help with literature studies.
I'd meant it as "it looks like rain any second, so go home," but—
"You're right. The sky is always with the clouds, so it wouldn't be lonely."
Strange. The main point was the second half—why is she focusing on the first part?
"Even if I go home now, I'll be alone. Mom and Dad are both busy."
"..."
"Being lonely is the same wherever you are."
"...Yeah."
No, I said it's going to rain. Being lonely is heartbreaking, sure, but—
Still, she should go home first.
"Can you stay with me a little longer?"
"..."
I admit it.
Back then I was pretty pure and simple. Just because a pretty classmate smiled at me for a moment with a face that wanted something—
"...Okay."
—I answered in a way that made me embarrassed just thinking about it.
Time has passed, so of course—
There are a few differences between who I was then and who I am now.
For example.
"So why were you crying?"
Asking whatever I was curious about without any consideration for the other person's circumstances...
"...My grades came out pretty bad."
"Ah, sorry."
Thinking about it, that was the only reason she could be crying like this today. Maybe being thoughtless is just part of being young.
"It's fine. You didn't do anything wrong."
"I asked so insensitively..."
"Haha, it's okay. Besides... I'm actually glad it was you who asked. You're so far ahead of me."
Apparently Bian knew my grades. Well, most students probably know the top five or so.
I was aware of that myself.
"Hey, Gachi. How do you study? Do you go to a lot of academies?"
"Me? I... well. I don't go to academies. I mostly study with online lectures."
"...And you're that good?"
"Dad always said that building the habit of thinking and exploring on your own is what lets you perform when it counts. So I only do online lectures. He said if you go to an academy, you end up asking the teacher even things you could figure out with a little thought."
Of course I couldn't say this method was always right, but at least it worked for me.
Having decent memory and concentration to begin with was one reason, but finding answers by thinking for myself was the right approach for me.
"...Maybe I should try that too."
"I can't... take responsibility for the results."
"Yeah, if 110th place tries to catch up to 3rd, they'll just tear their legs off."
"It's less about that and more that you should find a study method that suits you better."
By this point I'd realized something.
"What kind of method would be good?"
"Hmm, you said you hate being lonely. Studying with a friend, maybe?"
I had no intention of ending the conversation with Bian.
"Is there anyone who'd be friends with 110th place? By now kids outside the top 100 are probably being called by chemical element names. I'd be Darmstadtium (Ds)..."
"...Sorry."
"Ah, did you call me that too?"
"I didn't call you that myself... but I didn't exactly deny it either..."
Having a friendly chat with someone of the opposite sex for the first time in my life, and that person being incredibly pretty—
It was only natural to feel this way.
"That's so mean..."
"S-sorry. Next time I'll properly deny it."
"...Then."
And so—
"Can you study with me?"
To Bian's carefully asked question—
"...Okay."
—I answered.
Looking back now, that was the start of my first love... Argh!!
Stop sucking so hard on the same spot, Wa Sol! It's really starting to hurt!
What? ...You have to do this much to feel secure?
...Phew. Then suck somewhere else...
Hup.
...
I didn't expect her to suck on my lips...
