After buying meal tickets and picking up our food from the counter, we returned to our table. Incidentally, me and Kazuki had each ordered a big bowl of chilled ramen oomori, a menu item on the same level of popularity as the katsudon. Frankly speaking, it’s nothing more than cold shoyu ramen, and if you think about it calmly it’s not even at all that good, but for some reason it has an addictive quality that makes you want to eat it on a regular basis. Incidentally, the fact that it’s only boys who got addicted and it never gets ordered by girls is one of the (provisional) Seven Mysteries of Fuji High.
「At any rate, a toast to celebrate the new class!」
Following Yuuko’s lead, with exclamations of「Waheyy」and「Yeaa」, we all brought our glasses together. Naturally, they were glasses of water.
While hungrily gulping down his katsudon, Kaito spoke up.
「Anyway, Yuzuki and Haru, how are you finding the new class? We’ve got our usual crew together and not much has changed, but aren’t you two the only ones from Class 3?」
Haru too gulped down her katsudon unyieldingly, with an energy in no way inferior to Kaito’s.
「Even if you ask how we’re finding it, it’s only the second day, you know. Well, I’m the type that can adapt pretty well to any climate, and things have been just plain fun. I was originally on good terms with Chitose and Mizushino anyway, and Ucchi and Yua are also easy to get along with. And above all, with these members we seem pretty set for the ball games tournament!」
In contrast, Nanase swallowed the Hamburg steak in her mouth, then temporarily put down her chopsticks before starting to speak.
「I feel pretty much the same way. But my honest impression is that on the whole, there sure are a lot of people who I’ve never spoken to before.」
「Oh, that. I don’t think I recognize many of them either!」
Reacting to Yuuko’s carefree response, Kazuki butted in.
「Uh, sympathy from someone who doesn’t even remember the people they’ve talked to doesn’t help, you know.」
「Ughh, Kazuki’s so noisy. I think our afternoon classes were Maths, Biology and English, right? Hard mode all the way to seventh period all of a sudden… I wanna go home.」
Trying to match the rhythm of their conversation, I interjected with a「Well, this place is a prep school, after all」in as casual a tone as I could muster. I then continued with my next sentence.
「…Speaking of which, have you ever found yourself thinking that you’d rather not come to school?」
「「Eh, why’s that? School’s got P.E.」」
「Why? There’s loads of cute girls here.」
「What’s wrong, Saku!? Are you going through puberty!?」
「Ookay I get it, I phrased that question badly.」
Seeing the reactions of Haru and Kaito, Yuzuki, and Yuuko, I inwardly facepalmed. I had thought that for the time being I would gather opinions while still keeping Yamazaki Kenta-kun’s situation under wraps, but there was no way that these true blue riajuu would have ever experienced such troubles.
Also, the group has more idiots than I thought, so it should be fine to try asking in a more straightforward manner.
「Right then, let’s say there’s a guy who really doesn’t want to come to school. What do you think could be the reason?」
The first ones to respond were Kaito and Haru.
「Are you talking about truancy? I’m not too sure myself, but as expected wouldn’t bullying or something be the cause?」
「It could also be that they don’t have good relationships with the others in their club. You know, like, their seniors are too strict and it’s difficult to keep up, or, not to say it’s bullying, but they can’t get along with their teammates.」
The two of them gave uncharacteristically plausible suggestions. It’s true that such reasons might be common, but that’s precisely why a lot of people seem to struggle with them.
With a look that seemed to be searching for something, Kazuki picked up from there.
「At a prep school like ours, it’s also possible that they’re not able to keep up with the classes, or get nervous breakdowns due to exams. After all, it’s not uncommon to hear of someone whose grades were top-class in middle school but only above average here. Yuuko, what do you think?」
Based on the information from Kura-sen, I thought the probability of that being the case was low, but it was also entirely possible that the person in question was someone who wouldn’t be satisfied with just an above-average score.
「Maybe something love related? It’s super painful when the person you like hardly ever looks at you, and it’s particularly awful if they reject your confession and go out with someone else. Even I’d stop wanting to come to school.」
That was so like Yuuko. I hadn’t considered it at all, perhaps because of my self-established prejudice towards boys who don’t come to school, but if you think about it, it’s one of the top four things high school students have to worry about, along with friendships, studying and club activities.
「I wonder, just because someone won’t come to school doesn’t necessarily mean the cause is a school-related problem, right?」
The one who cut in there was Nanase.
「For example, they might have had a bad day outside and lost the will to go to school, or they might have become scared of interacting with people.」
I thought that was an interesting point of view. We all unconsciously tended to focus on matters within the school, but I supposed some were building a community outside of it.
Yuuko voiced a differing opinion.
「But isn’t that kind of weird? If it was me and there was anything outside school that I didn’t like, I think that’d make me even more motivated to come to school and meet my friends…」
「That’s because you’ve got a favourite place at school, Yuuko. But it could be that someone doesn’t particularly value their place at school, or they only have places outside where they can fit in. Even if that’s not the case, after their relationship in one place sours, they might consequently feel uneasy about other relationships as well.」
「I see… in other words, it’s just like how when your favourite mascara is sold out, you can’t choose a different one that easily, and when someone tells you your makeup looks bad, you even become afraid to put on any makeup at all!」
「…You’re not completely wrong, so it’s hard to tsukkomi.」
Since Yuuko and Nanase had done well in adding a punchline, there was no need for me to ask why she would bring up that sort of thing.
At any rate, even if I thought about this and that, it was of no use unless I tried visiting the person in question. I decided to concentrate on the chilled ramen in front of me.
Umu, this is certainly the same cold shoyu ramen I get day after day.
learning... please hold... 
Thx for the chapter
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