A Better Place
Cast:
Cure Diamond, Hishikawa Rikka - age 18
Ira, Goh Kyouya - age 18
April, 2017
The cram school that Rikka attends is well-reputed, but the facility itself feels sterile. Matte white walls, fluorescent lights, small windows set near the ceiling. For all that the students can leave whenever they want, the interior manages to feel like a prison.
"Hey, have you heard?" "Have you heard?" "About that boy in the next class?"
If it is meant to keep students from gossiping, the stark decor fails utterly. Rikka doesn't participate, nor does she even want to hear. She listens and catalogs the rumors only because the other girls are so loud and her ability to shut them out is lacking.
The boy is tall, they say. Handsome. Pale blue hair. Bright yellow eyes. The stiff violet uniform of the Kujou Boys School.
"Could it be?"
The gossips don't notice the question Rikka whispers to herself, nor do they take note as she stands and walks over to the next classroom.
The boy who is the subject of the gossip is easy to spot. Nobody else in the room wears that uniform, and perhaps nobody else at the cram school. He is sitting by himself, diligently reading a textbook.
"Goh Kyouya, it is you!"
He looks up from his book. Seeing her, he smiles.
"Hishikawa Rikka. Been a while."
"Been a while? Kyouya, you practically disappeared!"
He shrugs. "I don't have a lot going for me. In order to make something of myself, I had to make some sacrifices."
"Sacrifices? Kyouya..."
"I'm in a better place now. We should catch up."