Quoted By:
Stepping out of the bus, she steels herself. The night had given her enough time to chew on reality; armed with the belief that she is, in fact, a good girl, she will step into that classroom again- because I didn’t do anything wrong. As she again joins the wave of students crashing into the school, as heads turn and whispers sprout, Koizumi Wakoko gives no half a shit and continues striding forward because someone gave her takoyaki.
When she steps into that classroom, it’s as if the echo of her steps swallows all the sound. All eyes glue to her instantly as if she had forgotten to get dressed. Steadily, she walks up to her desk, sits in her chair, clears her throat, and takes out her reliable blowship-shaped pillow as is her duty. She knows she’s anxious, she knows; but she knows now too well not to show it.
Then the murmurs get loud enough for her to hear them.
Psycho. Freak. Weirdo. Dolphin-lover. The words thrown around carelessly pile up, and Wakoko soon finds herself wishing her pillow was much bigger. Then she suddenly goes ‘oh’, totally ready to tell Junko about what went down in the kōban- and that’s when she realizes that the classroom’s turbo-stacy had already merged her desk with some other girls. The spot right next to Wakoko’s was pretty much a very noticeable crater. When she looks at Junko, Junko looks away. No greetings, no insults, no nothing.
It’s slow: but Wakoko does feel all that steel crumbling off of her.
The teacher walks into the classroom.
…
