"Wow."

"Isn't as shabby as it sounds when you say 'abandoned classroom'."

Following Suzu into the former clubroom of the second literature club, I'm marveled at the way the room looks; although no larger than any other classroom in the building, the room lacks the regular desks which makes it feel more spacious, and the couches, armchairs and bookshelves makes it seem more like a living room than a room in a school building. Although this was supposed to be a literature club's clubroom, there's a guitar hanging on a wall, and in a corner I can see a turntable accompanied by what appears to be a box filled with vinyl discs.

"This... Does not feel like a clubroom," I say, no better words coming to my mind. I'm shocked to see a room like this right in a school, as if mocking the very existence of classrooms in the same building. It's stunning, to say the least, and I'm wondering whether this is just some strange illusion or not, another hallucination caused by my medications. But laying my gaze onto the girl standing in the middle of the room, I can accept that this is not just my mind playing tricks on me.

"One of the members was the child of someone who'd given quite a sum in donations, so the club was able to get some 'special treatment'," Suzu explains, slowly taking small steps towards the windows, that currently have their blinds down. "Of course, the students had to pay for anything that wasn't possible to claim as 'literature accessories' by themselves, but considering the cost of enrolling here in the first place, that wasn't too difficult." Turning her head over her shoulder, towards me, our eyes lock onto each others as she pulls up the blinds.

"Since you know so much about the second literature club, I'll take a wild guess and say that you were a member," I say as I walk over to the windows and look out. As I noticed yesterday, although the season for them has passed, some of the cherry trees are still in bloom, and it is quite beautiful, even if they only are a few and far apart. The entire area of the school seems like something out of a movie, the kind of atmosphere lifted directly from some kind of story. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Suzu nodding to answer my question while looking out at the same world as I.

"I was actually the vice president," she mentions, and I'm not sure whether it's a form of bragging or just a fact she felt the need to mention, but I am not surprised. If the club was as relaxed as it seems to have been, she would easily fit into that atmosphere, and if I were a member of a club like that I'd probably think that someone like Suzu would be the perfect vice president.

"That explains the key," I voice my thoughts, and turning my head towards the girl I can see a small smile on her lips. Relaxed and nonchalant, like her usual demeanor, but it's a warm smile that seems to contradict the person I met yesterday. Most people aren't as cold as they seem to be on the outside, they usually just find it easier to deal with people that way. I'm not complaining about getting to see a 'warmer' side of her, absolutely not.

The sun, having risen less than an hour ago, seems to have brought me some new energy, which is greatly appreciated. Although if this keeps on, this won't be able to be counted as 'missing school due to health issues' and will end up considered regular skipping. Not that it really matters to me; worst case scenario, I'll have to report the reason for having missed class, and I don't have much of a problem taking confrontations of that kind.

"For this to be considered therapeutic leave, you should at least get some rest," Suzu says, continuing to watch the courtyard of Yamaku. "The couches are quite comfortable." Letting my gaze wander over the scenery another time, I then follow Suzu's proposition and walk back to the center of the room, where I take my time lying down on the smallest of the three couches. I have no idea why I chose to lie down in this one, considering almost a third of my legs are dangling over the opposite armrest of the one I have my head on, but that's the way it went.

My gaze lying on the roof, like it had during the night, my ears pick up the sound of light steps; the girl seems to be moving towards the corner where I saw the vinyl player earlier. After a few seconds she stops, and a rustling noise takes the place of her steps. Something sliding out, something being put onto something else, some plastic stick-like object being moved, someone pressing a button. And then...

A soft melody reaches my ears, played on what I'm pretty certain to be a piano, and as the turntable plays the record that has been placed on it Suzu walks over to one of the two armchairs the room holds, sitting down as she reaches it. Turning my eyes toward her, she has her own closed, most likely enjoying the tune playing, relaxing to it. An image of serenity, accompanied by a tune which name is unknown to the current watcher of the picture. Knowing the name of the piece wouldn't serve to enhance the presence in front of my eyes in any way at all.

"..." I'm left speechless at the sight. Not that I have any intention of saying anything, but even if I wanted to say something I wouldn't be able to. The charm that I've felt from Suzu during the little time I've spent with her, the one that I could only explain as lady-like, even if there was a significant difference between it and that of a lady's, that charm currently feels otherworldly, filling the room like a gas. I'm probably incredibly strange for experiencing this moment like this, but she feels holy, as if she were a saint... That would make the second time she's given off that kind of experience to me in the same number of days.

Feeling unworthy of this scene, I turn my face back towards the roof before closing my eyes and let my hearing take main priority as a sense. The absolute serenity continues even after my sight is robbed by my eyelids, and I let myself enjoy it as my mind wanders away from reality.

…...

Opening my eyes, I immediately notice that the roof that I am looking up at is not that of either the room I have at home or the one in the hospital. Two seconds later I remember my current situation, and I look over to the armchair where Suzu was sitting when I closed my eyes and presumably when I fell asleep. Not yet awake enough to feel any surprise, I don't have much of a reaction to find that she isn't currently there. Although I'm not sure I'd be surprised if I'd been able to be so, though.

Considering that I feel tired even as of waking up, I presume that I had quite a good sleep, and while I feel groggy I slowly sit up, stretching my arms while doing so. Taking a look around the room, it seems as though its appearance has not changed in the slightest, the one exception being the fact that the girl that sat in an armchair earlier currently is sitting on the windowsill with a book in her hands. Either she has failed to notice the fact that I've woken up, or she just doesn't care about it.

"I'm not sure how I should feel about having been watched over while sleeping," I comment tiredly about the current situation. Of course, I don't really feel much about it at all, but sometimes you just have to make some kind of comment, and for me this is one of those situations... I may or may not be a bad person like that.

"I thought boys enjoyed the company of girls," Suzu answers, seemingly no reaction at me being awake and not even letting her gaze leave the book in her hands. Her eyes move quite quickly over the page, so I'll have to presume that she's quite the quick reader.

"You got it wrong; boys enjoy the company of beautiful girls," I correct her, trying my best to take on some kind of teasing tone but failing, still not being awake enough to have full control of my own vocal chords. The girl's eyes stop after hearing my words, her face then raised and gaze pointed at me.

"So I'm not beautiful?" she asks, tilting her head to the side just a little as if to push the question forward even further. Either Suzu is too straightforward to be able to tease, or she loves to play an idiot, and I'm not exactly sure why, but I do feel as if the latter would be closer to the truth than the earlier.

"I didn't say that I don't enjoy it," I answer, a small smile forming on my lips at the peculiar girl with whom I'm currently having this conversation. She's good-looking, that's true, but that also seems to be the norm for this school, so I guess I can't really say much at all. Suzu nods, having heard my answer, and resumes reading the book in her hands, still sitting on the windowsill. The serene atmosphere surrounding her, at least when she's not interrupted by the outside world, remains here, filling the room like the theoretical gas I thought of earlier.

Taking my cellphone out of my pocket, it seems that lunch is just twenty minutes away. I've slept through half the scheduled day, on the second day in this school. Somehow I feel like I deserve some kind of prize for this, but I guess that that's not going to happen, so instead I decide to take pleasure in the fact that I was able to get four hours of seemingly nightmare-free sleep. Or at least nightmare-free enough for me not to remember said nightmares, that may or may not have actually existed to begin with.

Standing up, I let my gaze quickly return to Suzu once before it turns toward the wall that seems to have been the major part of the second literature club; a wall covered in bookcases, all packed to the brim with books, most of them with radically different characteristics; different heights, widths, colors, fonts, all that jazz. And they don't appear to have any kind of organization, the books seemingly having been placed wherever there was space; some of them are upside-down, some placed have them lying sideways, some lying on top of others. Complete chaos, all within the realm of a few bookshelves in the classroom of a high school for 'youngsters with special needs'. I like it.

A few steps toward the line of bookshelves and I am close enough to see the names on the backs of the books. Most of them are names I haven't heard before, but there are several authors that I've heard of or maybe even read something by, with the rare case of a book I actually have read... Damn, I guess I became quite the maniac while in the hospital. I sigh.

"What do you say about leaving for the cafeteria? Lunch is starting soon," I say while turning towards Suzu. It's not that I'm hungry, but basic logic suggests that even if I barely have any appetite I should try to eat something when given the chance, especially if I don't get enough calories from any single meal. Having woken up barely a third of an hour before the scheduled time for a meal is something I might as well take as some kind of sign.

Seemingly finishing the paragraph she's reading, Suzu then closes the book in her hands, turning her face towards me before nodding. Pushing herself off the windowsill, she walks over to the bookcases and places the book in her hands on a shelf, appearing to be one at random. As if she doesn't care whether she finds it the next time she's here or not. I don't comment on it, and instead opt to walk out of the room, soon followed by the holder of the key who closes the door behind her, turning around and locking it immediately after.

"I thought I'd find you here!" a voice half-shouts as running steps quickly come closer towards us. Turning my face towards the source of the voice, I find it to be none other than a certain Miura Miki that is running over to us. Her usual grin covering her face, she seems to have decided that it would be a good idea to search for us here.

Wait...

"I'd assume class has yet to end for the time being," I say with a voice carrying a tone of suspicion. Being one of the quicker members of the track team, it probably wouldn't be insanely difficult for her to slip out, but it's still a fact that she's on the front row. Not impossible, but difficult. As a response, her grin grows wider.

"Couldn't just leave the new guy alone with someone who'd influence him to skip class on the second day, now could I?" she responds, and I guess that what she says would in theory be correct. I've probably started some kind of storm by missing out on half the day, haven't I? "Besides," Miki continues, "I'd never miss out on a chance to piss the student council off."

My response is a simple sly look, to which Miki answers with a wink, and our voiceless conversation is ended with me sighing while shaking my head in faked disappoint. The track star then starts off towards the cafeteria, the steps so sudden that it takes me a second before I realize that I should probably follow her, as Suzu already seems to be doing so. And so, our entourage makes its way towards the school cafeteria.