Chapter 12: A new day.
Over time, this small park has become completely abandoned. Weeds have grown along the edges of the sandpit, and the iron chains of the swings are rusty, and no one has come to clean them up.
This little park, however, holds a different significance, so generally, unless they specifically mention a particular location, they'll meet here when they meet up. When Matsuda Jinpei and Hagiwara Kenji are about to head home, Morofushi Sora'aki also habitually walks to this spot with them before parting ways.
It was the weekend, so Matsuda Jinpei and Hagiwara Kenji didn't have classes and had a lot of free time. After spending some time in the small park, Morofushi Sora'aki and Hagiwara Kenji dragged a seemingly reluctant Matsuda Jinpei to a dessert shop with a pink and cute atmosphere.
Hagiwara Kenji wasn't particularly interested in desserts, but he enjoyed watching Matsuda Jinpei frown and look sullen, yet still unable to refuse the two of them, sitting in the dessert shop with a sour face.
Although Morofushi Sora'aki never said it, Hagiwara Kenji believed that Morofushi Sora'aki shared the same thoughts as him.
After all, the fact that Morofushi Sora'aki isn't picky about desserts and would choose any place to eat, yet he specifically chose this dessert shop that looks very girly, is proof enough.
If the three of them go out to places like arcades, they'll go to dessert shops, the latter entirely for Morofushi Sora'aki.
"I'm not a big fan of desserts, I'm not picky," said Morofushi Sora'aki. "As long as it replenishes my sugar levels, it's fine."
Hagiwara Kenji asked a few questions, and Morofushi Sora'aki replied, "This is the trouble of a wise man."
This time, Morofushi Sora'aki placed his fork on the cream layer of the strawberry cake, scraped it casually a couple of times, and seemed to have no appetite.
"What's wrong, Sora'aki-chan?" Hagiwara Kenji and Matsuda Jinpei didn't order cake, but only two drinks with different flavors.
The boy with medium-length hair had a youthful look that was unique to his age, and his smile was refreshing and clean, easily attracting the attention of the girls of the same age at the other tables.
To be precise, the presence of three handsome men with attractive faces and personalities in such a girly dessert shop is already quite eye-catching.
In other words, these three didn't care much about other people's opinions and were quite open about it without feeling there was anything wrong. Matsuda Jinpei seemed unhappy, not because of other people's attention, but simply because he didn't like the girlish atmosphere.
"If you have any worries, you can tell your dear second-year graduate student, okay?"
"Hmm, if there's anything bothering you, you can tell us so we can have a laugh." Matsuda Jinpei gave a slight smirk.
Morofushi Sora'aki didn't pay much attention to the latter's slightly sarcastic remarks. Instead, he lowered his eyes and said in a low voice, "My mother wants me to go back to school."
Kenji Hagiwara paused, then asked, "Huh?"
Matsuda Jinpei: "Speaking of which... I remember you said you were on leave of absence from school?"
"Hmm." Morofushi Sora'aki nodded. "I'm just old enough to go to high school."
He had skipped a grade and then dropped out of school; he was only 13 when he was in his third year of junior high. Now he's 15, having been out of school for two years, and has also known his two new friends for two years.
Normally, a student would be 16 years old when they start high school. That means he has six months to a year to consider his options.
"...Sora, you've already taken a leave of absence, so it'll be difficult for you to integrate into the existing small groups in the class." Hagiwara Kenji habitually offered his analysis: "If you start directly from the first year of high school, the classmates around you will also be unfamiliar with the area."
"A new environment, new people, no existing groups—it's easy to integrate." Hagiwara Kenji asked, "Is that what your mother thinks?"
This is an obvious truth, and Morofushi Sora'aki did not deny it.
"Then go study," Matsuda Jinpei said lazily. "If you don't like it, you can just continue to take a break from school."
"As long as you pass the exam, you can go to university, right?"
Having known him for two years, Matsuda Jinpei was well aware of Morofushi Sora'aki's talent. Morofushi Sora'aki could easily learn any skill except for manual skills (such as cooking).
Especially for subjects that require rote memorization, Morofushi Sora'aki could memorize them with just one glance.
Sometimes, when they can't play because of their homework, Morofushi Sora'aki will sit there bored and daydream, but when they're having a headache over their homework all day, he can casually draw a few strokes to highlight the key points.
No one can deny that Morofushi Sora'aki is a genius.
"Speaking of which, I've always thought you have a real talent for demolition," Matsuda Jinpei remarked. "When Hagi and I go to repair things alone, there are never any problems."
"But every time I work with you, if I'm not careful, the result is always an explosion."
At first, they thought it was a coincidence, but after it happened many times, Hagiwara Kenji realized that the reason he was beaten by his mother for the first time the microwave exploded was actually because of this seemingly well-behaved and innocent Morofushi Sora'aki.
"I'd rather complain about Sorry-proof cooking than the explosion!" Hagiwara Kenji exclaimed, his eyes glazed over. "Seriously, I only looked away for a second, and the kitchen almost exploded!!"
"...In a sense, it was also an explosion, Hagi."
"You're right, Jinpei-chan."
Morofushi Sora'aki accepted the sudden shift in topic well and said, "I've already explained it."
"Yes, you explained it." Hagiwara Kenji covered his face: "It was just the simplest stir-fried potatoes. Everything was normal until you suddenly remembered that the recipe said to boil the potatoes first, so you steamed them."
This step was fine; at worst, it would just become steamed potatoes and mashed potatoes. However, no water was added during the steaming process, and the bottom pot burned out. Then, I forcibly mashed the still-hard potatoes with brute force, added cheese, and put them in the oven.
I could barely accept it up to this point, but why add pizza if you've already added cheese?! This completely defeats the purpose!
Turning potatoes into pizza is one thing, but why did you have to add fruit to it?!
"Because I wanted to make fruit pizza," Morofushi Sora'aki replied calmly.
"Fruit pizza is one thing… but why did you add grapes!" Hagiwara Kenji was extremely sad: "Because of this, my mom docked my allowance for a month."
Although it didn't actually cause an explosion, the fact that the microwave caught fire and the pot was burned is already a big problem.
"...Is this your reason for taking my allowance that month?" Matsuda Jinpei turned around.
Hagiwara Kenji's expression changed: "Ahem, let's skip this topic."
Matsuda Jinpei: "..."
Morofushi Sora'aki poked at the strawberry cake, his lips turning down slightly.
He really didn't do it on purpose... well, he admits, there were a few times when it was intentional.
But most of the time, he just gets a little distracted.
His memory is so good that his brain is filled with too much information and his associative abilities are too strong, resulting in a lot of distracting information that is difficult to access.
For example, he might just be looking at a very ordinary sentence in a book, and then he would inexplicably recall where he had seen a similar sentence in another book, and thus remember the title of that book, the day he read it, what happened at the time, and even what clothes he was wearing, what he ate, and what time he saw that sentence.
He has so much information in his mind that when he focuses, he can indeed eliminate distractions. For example, when taking things apart with these two people, he never holds them back and almost never makes a mistake.
But it was just cooking; he didn't really want to use his brain or take it too seriously.
This leads to me thinking of potato-related recipes when making stir-fried potatoes, such as pizza, French fries, ketchup, and fried chicken, and then unconsciously, I also get the recipes mixed up.
The main reason is that he is quite relaxed and doesn't want to take things too seriously.
so...
"It's Hagiwara's fault." Morofushi Sora'aki said, blinking.
Hagiwara Kenji: "Huh? How did it become my fault again!"
Matsuda Jinpei: "That's right, it's all this guy's fault!"
"Jinpei-chan—" Hagiwara Kenji's eyes showed a betrayed look.
"Unless you provide all my snacks for the next month." Matsuda Jinpei said casually.
Hagiwara Kenji immediately changed his expression: "Okay, it was my fault."
"Hello!"
The topics of conversation among the three people always jumped around very quickly; before one topic was finished, the next one would naturally follow.
After jumping around so many times, the topic has returned to the very first question: "So, Sora'aki-chan, are you going to school?"
"…Mom will worry." Morofushi Sora'aki cut a small piece of cake with his fork, put it in his mouth, and mumbled, "So it's okay."
"Which high school are you going to attend? Maybe Jinpei-chan and I can go to the same school as you next year!"
When Morofushi Sora'aki gave the name of a school, Hagiwara Kenji and Matsuda Jinpei both looked confused.
"Have you heard of it, Jinpei-chan?"
"No, there are only two high schools nearby, right? I've never heard of this name."
"What a pity—it looks like I won't be able to be a schoolmate with Sora'aki-chan!"
Morofushi Sora'aki, however, didn't care about this.
As usual, as evening approached, the three of them naturally split into two groups and left.
Matsuda Jinpei and Hagiwara Kenji walked side by side on the road bathed in the afterglow of dusk. The boy with medium-length hair looked up slightly, gazing in the direction of the setting sun: "It's a school I've never heard of."
"This kind of thing doesn't matter anymore, does it?" Matsuda Jinpei glanced at Hagiwara Kenji. "Or do you still think he's a ghost?"
"Don't laugh at me for things from when I was little!" Hagiwara Kenji sighed. "But it's just too difficult for me to keep actively ignoring the problems I passively discover—I'll have to get Sora'aki-chan to treat me next time!"
"Sure, include me." Matsuda Jinpei glanced at him. "Anyway, even if he really is a ghost, can we still deny that he's a friend now?"
"—So, I told you! Don't make fun of me about things from when I was little!" Hagiwara Kenji muttered. "I'll get angry!"
Matsuda Jinpei snorted coldly: "Then get angry."
The afterglow of the setting sun cast long shadows of the two people. In another world, Morofushi Sora'aki opened his eyes in bed, looked at the morning sunlight outside the window, and slowly stretched.
Another new day has begun.