[Koharu Aiba's POV]
The morning of the second day of the new semester.
As I fixed my hair in the mirror above the sink, I couldn't shake the feeling that the house was quieter than usual.
I ran a comb through my dark brown, shoulder-length hair, flattening the stray ends with my fingertips. Large eyes said to resemble my mother's, paired with the drooped outer corners that looked so much like my brother's, stared back at me from the glass.
I was on the shorter side for a girl, and right after starting high school, someone had even joked that a middle schooler had wandered into class. I didn't think I looked that childish, but even in uniform, I was far from having an air of maturity.
I spent extra time trying to at least get my hair looking nice, but the final result wasn't much different from normal.
"Well, whatever."
It wasn't like I had anyone to impress.
Returning the comb to its place, I stepped out of the washroom to find breakfast and a short note from Mom waiting on the living room table.
'Leaving a bit early today. Make sure to lock up. I'll drop by Naoki's place after work.'
Underneath the note sat a bag containing a change of clothes that she apparently planned to bring to the hospital.
More than a week had passed since my brother was admitted.
No matter how many times I was told his condition wasn't life-threatening and that his recovery was going smoothly, just seeing his empty room made me uneasy.
Normally, he would never get up in the morning, and Mom would send me to drag him out of bed. I'd go to his room, bicker with him while he gave half-hearted replies from beneath the covers, and finally yank open the curtains to force him awake. That was our usual routine.
Now, there was no one to wake.
Only two place settings sat on the table—mine and Mom's. Just losing those morning squabbles I used to find so annoying made the house feel strangely hollow.
Sitting down, I picked up my smartphone.
When I opened my chat with my brother, the message I had sent last night was already marked as read.
'Are you sleeping properly?'
His reply had arrived ten minutes later.
'It's not like I have anything to stay up late for in a hospital.'
It was a blunt, uncharming answer, but just seeing words come back from him brought a wave of relief.
'I'll stop by after school today.'
I sent it off, and the read receipt popped up almost instantly.
'You don't need to come every day. Just rest at home.'
Worrying about his little sister from a hospital bed was so typically him.
'I'm coming because I want to. If you don't like it, pretend to be asleep.'
'That's way too rude to someone visiting you.'
'You're a patient, so go to sleep.'
Right after hitting send, the wall clock caught my eye. I didn't have time to banter back and forth.
I quickly finished my breakfast, slipped the blue notebook into my school bag, and headed out the door.
Even with summer vacation over, the heat still clung stubbornly to the air. The morning sun beat down relentlessly, and from the roadside trees along the walk to the station, cicadas buzzed as if wringing out their very last breaths.
A thin sheen of sweat coated my forehead by the time I reached school, and I finally caught my breath in the cool air of the entranceway.
I swapped into my indoor shoes and headed for the first-year classroom.
"Good morning, Koharu."
Before I could reach my desk, my friend Anna Sawamura waved to me from the front of the room.
She was a bright, friendly girl with long black hair tied in a high ponytail. We had started talking on our very first day after being seated next to each other, and now she was the person I spent the most time with at school.
"Good morning."
"How's your brother doing?"
"Looks like he'll be discharged soon."
"That's great! You went to see him yesterday too, right?"
"Yeah."
"Aren't you going every single day?"
"Only when I have time."
In reality, I had gone to see him almost every day before classes started back up.
Anna seemed to see right through me, narrowing her eyes playfully.
"You're quite the brother's girl, aren't you?"
"No, I'm not."
"Answering that fast only makes it more suspicious."
"I'm just normally worried. Anyone would be if their family was in the hospital."
"Sure, sure."
Anna laughed and strolled back to her own seat.
The morning chime rang, and our homeroom teacher walked into the room.
The classroom was still buzzing with post-break restlessness. Friends who hadn't seen each other in weeks had endless stories to share, and every time the teacher turned toward the blackboard, hushed whispers broke out across the room.
I tried to focus on the lesson, but my attention kept drifting toward the bag holding my phone.
The odds of getting an urgent call from the hospital were slim. My brother's condition was stable, and they had assured us there was no risk of sudden complications.
Even so, whenever I remembered the day he was first admitted, I couldn't bring myself to relax entirely.
The hours spent glued to news broadcasts of the blazing shopping mall while his whereabouts were unknown. The moment Mom told me he had been rushed to the hospital. And the sight of him lying motionless on that stark white bed.
Every single memory was still seared into my mind.
After a few periods of class, lunchtime finally arrived.
Parting ways with Anna, who was heading to the cafeteria store, I gathered a stack of handouts requested by our homeroom teacher and headed for the resource room in the adjacent building.
It was supposed to be a simple errand to drop off career-planning materials for the new term, but the stack of paper was far thicker than I had anticipated. Even though I had bundled them in a clear file, I had to cradle them with both arms just to keep from dropping everything.
My school bag was slung over my shoulder, bumping heavily against my hip with every step up the stairs.
"Who makes one person carry this much...?"
I couldn't stop the complaint from slipping out.
The resource room was located just past the second-floor connecting corridor.
I stepped into a quiet, rarely used stairwell, but right as I reached the landing, the bag slipped from my shoulder down my arm.
"Ah—"
The moment I scrambled to catch it, the clear file gave way. Several handouts scattered across the floor, and the blue notebook tumbled straight out of my bag.
It slid down two steps, coming to a halt at someone's feet.
"I'm so sorry!"
Just as I bent down to retrieve it, the person reached for the notebook first.
"Here, you dropped this."
A calm, feminine voice echoed across the landing.
When I looked up, my breath caught.
Standing before me was a girl wearing our school's uniform.
And yet, she was striking enough to make it hard to believe we were wearing the exact same clothes.
Softly waving, ash-beige hair cascaded over her shoulders and down her back, catching the light from the window in a faint, radiant sheen. Her eyes, framed by long lashes, held a slight sharpness that paired with her sculpted features to create a dazzling, almost unapproachable presence.
Her face was remarkably small, with a clean, straight nose. Among everyone I had ever met in person, she was without a doubt the most gorgeous.
She was tall for a girl, with long, slender limbs. But she wasn't merely thin; she possessed a natural, feminine grace, and even beneath the uniform, her figure was undeniably well-proportioned.
I had always thought a uniform made everyone look more or less the same. But on her, it looked like the uniform had been tailored specifically to match her beauty.
Even as a girl myself, I was struck speechless for several seconds.
"...Are you okay?"
Her puzzled question brought me back to reality.
"Ah, yes! I'm sorry."
"No need to apologize. You just dropped your stuff, right?"
She handed me the blue notebook, then glanced down at the papers scattered across the floor.
"That's quite a stack."
"A teacher asked me to take them to the resource room."
"All by yourself?"
"Yes. I thought I could carry them."
"Ended up biting off more than you could chew?"
"...Seems like it."
When I gave an embarrassed laugh, the corners of her mouth softened into a slight smile.
Given her flashy appearance, I had expected her to have a sharp, intimidating way of speaking. But her voice was gentle, devoid of any mockery toward an underclassman she had never met before.
She bent down and began gathering the stray papers.
"I can pick those up myself."
"Just standing here watching would make me look pretty bad, wouldn't it?"
"Still..."
"It's fine. Just hold that end down."
Doing as I was told, I held the edge of the folder open. I took the gathered sheets from her and slipped them back inside one by one.
As she shifted her footing, her right leg suddenly hitched.
For a fraction of a second, her brows knitted in pain.
"Does your leg hurt?"
At my question, she glanced down at her right foot.
"Oh, this?"
Concealed beneath her socks and loafers, there was no visible sign of an injury.
"Just a sprain. It's practically healed."
"Please, have a seat. I'll pick up the rest."
"You're making a big deal out of nothing. I'm fine."
"But it looked like it hurt."
"It just looked that way."
"Isn't that what people always say when it actually hurts?"
A brief silence hung between us.
Just as I began to panic, wondering if I had overstepped, she let out a soft laugh.
"Didn't expect to get fussed over by a first-year."
"Even a first-year can tell when someone's hurting."
"Cheeky."
Despite the word, her voice held an amused warmth.
Once we finished gathering the papers, I hugged the file tightly to make sure I wouldn't drop it again. Taking the blue notebook back from her, I set it on top of the stack.
"Thank you so much."
"Think you can make it to the resource room now?"
"I'll be fine this time."
"Really?"
She gave me a skeptical look, making me waver.
The weight hadn't changed. If my bag slipped off my shoulder again, the exact same thing would happen.
"...Probably."
"Probably, huh?"
Letting out an exasperated sigh, she reached out and took half the stack.
"I'll carry these."
"I'd feel awful making someone with an injured leg carry them!"
"My hands aren't hurt, are they?"
"Well, yes, but—"
"Just to the resource room. It's right around the corner anyway."
It was clear she wasn't going to take no for an answer.
After a moment of hesitation, I surrendered half the papers.
We walked up the stairs side by side.
Though she walked normally for the most part, her stride shortened slightly whenever she put weight on her right foot. She didn't look like she was in agony, but it certainly wasn't fully healed.
"Senpai, are you a second-year?" I asked, eyeing the color of her uniform ribbon.
"Yeah. Second-year."
"I'm a first-year."
"I can tell just by looking."
"Right, of course."
The conversation trailed off.
Unsure of what to say to an upperclassman I had only just met, I kept my eyes on the papers in my arms.
She had gone out of her way to help me, so the least I could do was introduce myself.
"Um, I'm Koharu Aiba."
The steps of the girl beside me slowed slightly.
"Aiba?"
"Yes."
When she repeated my family name, I looked up.
However, showing no sign of recognizing it, she quickly shifted her gaze back forward.
"Koharu... like the kanji for 'heart' and 'spring'?"
"That's right."
"That's a lovely name."
"Thank you."
It was rare for anyone outside my family to compliment my name.
As I replied with a shy smile, she offered her own name in return.
"I'm Serina Mikage."
"Mikage... Senpai."
It was a name I had definitely heard before.
After thinking for a few seconds, the rumors my classmates had shared shortly after enrollment came rushing back.
There was an exceptionally beautiful girl among the second-years.
Despite receiving endless confessions from guys, she turned every single one down.
She was famous for despising boys, openly scowling if any male student dared approach her carelessly.
Her name was definitely Serina Mikage.
Hearing those rumors had painted a terrifying picture in my mind.
Yet seeing her in person, she had picked up my notebook and was even carrying handouts for an underclassman she had never met. She was nothing like the gossip made her out to be.
"What?"
Noticing my intense stare, Mikage-senpai raised an eyebrow suspiciously.
"Oh, nothing. It's just... I've heard a bit about you, Mikage-senpai."
"Let me guess: that I hate guys or something?"
Hearing her bring it up so casually left me scrambling for words.
"Um, well..."
"No need to deny it. It's true."
"It really is?"
"It's true that I hate guys. But it's not like I bite girls' heads off."
"I didn't think you were that scary!"
"You had a pretty guarded look on your face just a second ago, though."
"I did not!"
"You definitely did."
The corners of Mikage-senpai's lips curled into a faint smile.
When she smiled, the unapproachable aura around her striking features softened, revealing the natural warmth of a girl her age.
Right then, my phone buzzed in my skirt pocket.
"Excuse me."
Shifting the papers into one arm, I checked the screen.
It was a message from Mom.
'The doctor says he should be discharged by the weekend. I've already told Naoki.'
A heavy knot deep in my chest loosened.
While being discharged had been discussed before, this was the first time we had a concrete timeline.
"Everything okay?" Mikage-senpai asked.
"Yes. My brother is in the hospital right now, but it looks like he'll be discharged soon."
"Your brother's in the hospital?"
"Yeah. He's past the worst of it, but he's still admitted."
"I see."
Her voice dropped an octave.
The smile vanished from her face, replaced by a shadow of genuine concern in her eyes.
"You must be worried."
"He has a lot more energy now. Though he keeps saying he wants to come back to school as soon as possible."
"That's a terrible idea," Mikage-senpai said firmly. "He needs to rest until he's fully healed. Pushing himself halfway and making it worse will only drag things out."
"That's what I keep telling him! But he's so stubborn about the weirdest things."
"Guys are like that. The second they think they can manage, they push themselves past their limits."
There was an odd weight of personal experience behind her words.
Staring ahead, she narrowed her eyes slightly.
"The ones who keep saying they're fine are always the ones who aren't."
Her voice sounded distant, almost lost in thought.
Before I could say anything, her expression snapped back to normal.
"Well, if he can go home soon, that's great news."
"Yes."
"Don't worry yourself sick either, Koharu. If his family looks stressed, he won't be able to rest easy."
"Make sure you don't push your leg too hard either, Mikage-senpai."
"Look who's turning the tables."
"Because you're one of those people who claims they're fine, Senpai."
Mikage-senpai opened her mouth, then closed it with a wry shrug.
"Fine, fine. I'll be careful."
"Please do."
Reaching the resource room, the two of us set the stacks of handouts on the table.
The teacher in charge wasn't around, leaving the room completely empty.
"You really saved me. Thank you so much."
"Don't worry about it. I only carried them down the hall."
"You picked up my notebook, too."
"Then just make sure you don't drop it next time."
"I won't."
As I bowed my head, a boy's voice drifted down the corridor.
"Hey, it's Mikage!"
Two boys who looked like second-years walked toward us. One of them spotted Mikage-senpai and closed the distance with a bright grin.
"Is your leg okay now? You were out for a while, weren't you?"
"It's mostly healed."
"Awesome, so next time—"
"Too close."
A frigid voice cut him off, completely devoid of the warmth she had shown while talking to me.
The boy stopped in his tracks.
Mikage-senpai took half a step back, her brow furrowing in blatant distaste.
"Whoa, I'm just talking to you."
"There's no reason for you to be standing that close."
"Man, you never change, do you?"
"If you get the point, back off."
The boy gave an awkward laugh and walked past with his friend.
Once their backs disappeared around the corner, Mikage-senpai let out a quiet sigh.
The gentleness from earlier hadn't entirely vanished, but the sheer contrast with how she treated that boy was staggering.
"...You really do hate guys, don't you?"
"Told you it was true, didn't I?"
"It's even more real than I imagined."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Just that you're really sweet to girls."
"That's just normal. Why would I be cold to someone who hasn't done anything to me?"
Saying so, Mikage-senpai glanced at the blue notebook in my hands.
"Make sure you put that away properly in your bag this time."
"I will. I won't drop it again."
"Didn't you tell me you'd be fine earlier, too?"
"This time it's for real!"
"All right, I'll take your word for it."
A voice calling Mikage-senpai's name echoed from the other end of the hall.
Looking over, three girls were waiting for her a short distance away.
None of them were carrying shopping bags, and they were all wearing the same uniform. Yet standing together, the group possessed an undeniably glamorous presence.
"Serina, where'd you run off to?"
"A first-year dropped her things, so I helped her carry them."
"Playing the good Samaritan again?"
"It wasn't that big a deal."
Answering her friends, Mikage-senpai turned back to me.
"See you around, Koharu."
"Yes. Thank you again, Mikage-senpai!"
Raising a hand casually, Mikage-senpai walked over to join the three girls.
Her right foot still showed a hint of stiffness. But surrounded by her friends, a natural smile lit up her face, making the cold expression she had worn for the boy feel like a complete illusion.
I stood there, watching her walk away.
She was so different from the rumors.
To be fair, the rumors weren't entirely wrong—she really was cold to guys.
Even so, I felt a little guilty for having judged everything about Mikage-senpai based on campus gossip alone.
When I returned to the classroom, Anna was already back from the cafeteria store and caught sight of me.
"You took forever. Was the resource room really that far?"
"I dropped the papers on the way."
"All of them?"
"Just some. An upperclassman helped me pick them up."
"An upperclassman?"
"Serina Mikage-senpai."
Anna nearly dropped the bread in her hands.
"Mikage-senpai?!"
"You know her?"
"Of course I do! Isn't she the most famous girl in the whole second-year class?"
"Is she really that famous?"
"She's drop-dead gorgeous, hates guys, and has shot down every single boy who's ever confessed to her!"
"We don't know if that last part is actually true."
"Wait, did you two become friends already?"
"We didn't become friends. We just talked for a bit."
I sat at my desk and placed the blue notebook on top.
"She was really nice, though. She even helped me carry the handouts all the way to the resource room."
"I hear she's super sweet to girls. It's just terrifying when a guy gets close to her."
"Yeah, I saw that part firsthand."
"No way! You got the full Mikage-senpai experience in record time!"
"The 'experience'? That's a weird way to put it."
Anna giggled and turned around to lean against the front of my desk.
"What else did you talk about?"
"Just that my brother's in the hospital right now."
"To an upperclassman you just met?"
"She saw me checking my phone and asked if something happened."
"Huh. Mikage-senpai is surprisingly thoughtful, isn't she?"
"That's what I thought, too."
I traced the cover of the blue notebook with my fingertips.
The exact same color I had asked my brother to buy.
On that day, when he sent me a photo from the mall, I thought we were just picking out a color.
Now, every time I looked at this notebook, it brought back memories of the day he was rushed to the hospital.
From today on, though, I had a feeling the image of the stunning upperclassman I met on the stairs would come to mind right alongside it.
After school.
Leaving the building, I headed straight for the hospital where my brother was staying.
Just before reaching the school gates, I spotted Mikage-senpai and her three friends walking a short distance ahead. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but Mikage-senpai was laughing brightly at something one of them said.
While her looks alone made her seem unapproachable, around people she trusted, she was no different from any ordinary high school girl.
Just then, an ambulance sped down the road outside the school.
The instant the siren wailed, Mikage-senpai stopped dead in her tracks.
Her smile vanished, and her shoulders went rigid.
One of her friends noticed immediately and leaned in, looking searchingly into her face to ask what was wrong.
Mikage-senpai gave a slight shake of her head and started walking again.
From a distance, she already looked back to normal.
Yet the brief flash of raw terror on her face remained etched in my mind.
She had hurt her leg and missed school for a while. I didn't know the details, but maybe something traumatic had happened to her, too.
Since she hadn't pried into my life when we met, it wasn't my place to pry into hers.
Checking that the blue notebook was secure in my bag, I set off toward the hospital.
Mikage-senpai, whom I met in the stairwell, and my brother, waiting in his hospital room. At this moment, there wasn't a single reason in my mind to connect the two of them.