25 - Grey sky looms in the morning

A few minutes after Natsu left the apartment, we began preparing to head to school.

After making sure everything was ready— uniforms neat, and today’s textbooks neatly packed in our bags— we walked out. As we walked toward the school, light conversation filled the air.

There is still one thing that was stuck in my mind after our talk with Natsu earlier. Three people. Nagi said there were "three" people who was aware of my gender change. If I exclude myself from that count, there must be someone else I still don’t know about.

I stared at Nagi intently.

Nagi slowly turned to me, sensing my intense gaze. "What’s up, Yuichi?" Nagi asked, confused. When I looked at Nagi’s face, I noticed a strand of his hair sticking up, still messy and unkempt.

I awkwardly scratched my cheek.

From my perspective, that little ahoge sticking out of Nagi’s hair actually looks kind of cute…

Should I tell Nagi that his hair’s still messy? Nah, it’s fine. He actually looks better like this.

"Nagi, you’re actually a good-looking kinda guy, huh?" I said flatly.

Nagi’s face immediately turned red with embarrassment, after i said that. "Huh? Why are you suddenly complimenting me!?"

"No, forget it."

"Huh..?"

"..."

"Nagi, I want to ask you something."

Nagi scratched his head while still looking confused. His face still had a little trace of red blush from my earlier compliment. "Hm.. What is it..?"

"Earlier... when we were talking with Natsu about the people who are aware of my gender change... Ugh, it’s complicated to explain, let’s just call it an anomaly."

"Well, earlier you said there are three anomalies that you know of. Who are they? Besides Natsu and you."

Nagi’s expression immediately turned into the surprised one, after he heard my question. He then whistled nervously out of habit. "Hm..? What did you say? Yuichi? Sorry, I didn’t hear you..."

If Nagi’s acting this way, that means he accidentally let that slip about it before, huh? By the way, your acting now is really bad. You know?

I then took my phone out of my pocket and played the audio recording I had just made.

"..!"

Nagi just stared, his mouth hanging open in shock, as I played the recording.

"Yuichi... So all this time... you secretly recorded our conversation?"

"Yeah."

"No wonder you were so quiet!"

I sighed softly. "It wasn’t exactly ‘secret.’ I just put my phone on the table with the recorder on. You just didn’t notice it."

"..."

I recorded it just in case I might forget one day or if, for some reason, I magically lost my memory as someone who’s aware. If something like that happens, I could use this recording to remember everything.

But I still never expected— to use this recording to interrogate Nagi.

I grinned slyly. "So, Nagi… come on, can you try explaining about all of it to me now?"

"Uh… well—"

***

Before long, Nagi finally explained everything that had been going on behind my back. Like his discussions with Akane and the contents of a certain important document titled, "Star Wish." Nagi explained everything.

The connection between the document and the anime I watched strangely had a lot in common.

But what shocked me even more was the fact that Akane was one of the anomalies.

Honestly, I never expected that. She always seemed so normal around me, I thought she was the least likely person to be one. But I was wrong. Her acting was incredible.

But why did she have to do all that? Shouldn’t she just told me if she was one of the aware? Didn't she should be curious, when she sees that my gender suddenly change?

Nagi too— although he said he had told me everything, it seemed there were still one or two things he was still hiding from me.

"Hmph..!" For some reason, I felt irritated when I realized that Nagi was still keeping something from me. Even though I tried to force him to reveal it, he still kept quiet. What could be so important that he was so desperately hiding?

Could it be that Nagi and Akane are dating..?

A— my old habits are coming back. Anyway, it’s not my business if they’re together. It’s true, I haven’t seen or talked much with Akane lately, even at school. She’s been spending more time with her new friends.

This is also the first time in a week that I’ve heard any news about Akane... But the first person she talk to was Nagi, not me. There must be something between them.

For some reason, I had a vague feeling that she was deliberately distancing herself from me...

Could it really be that they’re dating? Akane is avoiding me because she doesn’t want to hurt my feelings because of that. But Akane... Did you know? It shouldn’t be a big matter, because I just realized it now— that I have some feelings for Nagi, but it’s just a small feeling. A small feeling that will probably fade over time.

If you're dating Nagi, you could just tell me about it, you know? I won't be mad or hurt. I just don't want our friendship to shatter, just because of something like that.

"..."

I sighed deeply.

I looked up at the sky, dark clouds starting to gather above us. It seemed like it was going to rain soon. Fortunately, I brought an umbrella.

***

When we arrived in class, it was already full, even though usually at this time of day, there are only about four or five other students besides us.

The classroom was noisy, filled with whispers from the other students. Everyone looked excited, as if a celebrity was about to arrive at this school.

A muscular boy with a big bald head approached Nagi, who was sitting next to me. If I’m not mistaken, his name is Kaito, right?

"Good morning. Nagi, and Ueda-san too."

I nodded my head slightly. "Mhm. Good morning, Takeda-kun."

Without hesitation, Kaito threw his arm around Nagi’s shoulders. "Hey, Nagi. You’re late today."

"Yuichi’s little sister came to our apartment earlier, so… yeah, that’s why."

Kaito nodded his head in understanding. "Nagi, did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"There’s a new student coming. The rumor is, he or she is pretty famous."

After eavesdropping on their conversation for a while, from the information Kaito gave, it seemed like there would be a new student here. Maybe that’s why the classroom was so crowded this morning.

But in the midst of this lively classroom, only Akane looked gloomy. Normally, she’d be in the cafeteria with her friends in the morning. This was unusual... Akane was lying her head on the desk, looking despondent, staring at the classroom with empty eyes.

"Um.. Good morning, Akane-san."

Akane then looked up when she heard my greeting. She only gave me a thin smile in response.

A few minutes passed, and the bell rang. Our homeroom teacher arrived, leading a student behind them.

The student then walked to the front of the class. Shiny white hair combined with his handsome face immediately caught the attention of all the girls in the class.

So this is the reason why the girls were all excited just now...

"You can do it now, " our homeroom teacher said to the student.

"Alright. Everyone, nice to meet you.. My name is Yamamoto Rion. You can call me Rion. I’ll be transferring here because of some issues at my old school. Though it seems I’m a bit late, I hope you’ll help me out." After finishing his introduction, the student bowed his head.

Yamamoto Rion? Why does that name sound familiar?

"Such an idiot bloodline." A small curse from someone sitting next to me made my shoulders jerk in surprise. "So they’re still planning to do this after all, huh?" I heard a quiet murmur from a seat just a few inches from mine— as I glanced over, it seemed the voice came from Akane.

Akane..?

Why did she...

TO BE CONTINUED.