Nozomi wanted to get through her time at Shinra Private Academy by making as few waves as possible. She would avoid any interaction with the other students, score high on tests to keep her parents off her back, and sit next to the window in order to give her something interesting to stare at when she inevitably started daydreaming during class. Ironically, it was that last part that rendered her entire plan ineffective.
Having already blocked out her classmates' chatter, Nozomi turned her head towards the window and settled into her default daydream: life as a Pokémon Trainer. Her parents may not have allowed her to play her copy of Pokémon Blue at school, but her parents couldn't stop her from thinking about it. Not that they wouldn't if they could.
She was right in the middle of envisioning an epic battle between Trident the Blastoise and her rival's Charizard when she spotted movement on the school grounds.
A dark-haired boy was dragging a smaller figure as he sprinted towards the gates of the school, his undone shirt flapping in the wind. If Nozomi squinted, she could make out the bandages wrapped around the unfortunate kid being pulled at a breakneck pace behind him.
What the hell? Sure, kids ditched class all the time, but they usually didn't bother showing up in the first place. The more she thought about it, the more she convinced herself she had to investigate. It's not that she wanted to skip class exactly, she had an obligation to make sure those two weren't up to anything shady. And if it meant getting to avoid the class reps' daily speech, well, that was just a bonus.
Nozomi glanced at the clock. There was still seven minutes until homeroom started, plenty of time to leave before Fujiwara-sensei arrived and took attendance.
Her decision was clear.