Gakushuu, as usual, packs his bag. As usual, he calls goodbye to his friends - classmates - and walks out of the door. As usual, Gakushuu passes the school gate into the car park. As usual, he goes straight to his headmaster's car. As usual, he leaves his bag on the ground and waits for his headmaster to exit so they can go to the house.
But not as usual, he picks his bag up and walks away, saying nothing to the chauffeur, who just looks confused. He doesn't look back, willing his feet to continue on. On through the car park, on through the main gates, on through the streets where he gets weird stares. And he prays he doesn't run into E-class. He prays that for once the bullying, the whispering will stop, for at least one day, so he can die knowing that for once he was accepted for who he was and not because someone feared him.
Before he knows it, he is at the park.
"Hey, Gakushuu?"
"Yeah, Nagisa?"
"Promise me... If the world ends, we'll be together."
"Nagisa, why must you make stupid promises? The world isn't going to end."
"What if... our world ends?"
Gakushuu paused, looking at his friend, who had suddenly become very solemn. Too solemn for a 10 year old. "Our world?" Nagisa sighed.
"Gakushuu, not all friendships last forever, and with our kind of families I think that maybe it won't, so promise me if it does end you will meet me here, so we can say goodbye to each other?"
He never did meet Nagisa. But it wasn't friendship that ended.
He walks into the park, sitting underneath a tree. Nagisa and him had many special spots to play together and hide together. He wonders if their friendship, their - relationship - was worth it, worth the pain and regret he feels everyday. He watches some children play. One day those children will attend his father's school and become obsessed with grades. But maybe they'll retain the memory of just playing.
And he decides, it was.
"Where have you been?" the voice of his headmaster hits him the moment he walks through the door. Gakushuu looks at him - and nearly does a double take. The headmaster looks frazzled, hair on end, eyes wild, cheeks red like he'd been scratching them. His phone has been discarded to one side, tie loose, shoes chucked off to one side. "I've been looking for you!"
"I was at the park."
"Why?!"
Because the world is going to end in 61 days. Because I wanted to see happiness. Because I wanted my faith in humanity restored. Because I have so many regrets that you can't possibly understand, because I wish I had been brave enough to tell Nagisa how I felt, because I don't want to die with this heartache, because I hate you, I hate you I hate you I hate you Ihateyou-
"I don't know." The headmaster runs forward. Fearing a slap, Gakushuu flinches. The headmaster's arms go around him, pulling him in tight. Gakushuu can feel the headmaster's body shaking. His breath is short.
He is crying.
Gakushuu stands, waiting for him to let go. When he does, he turns around and heads up to his bedroom, ignoring his father's - headmaster's pleas. It's too late. No point in forming a bond with his headmaster. After all, if the headmaster didn't have something to teach...
Then why on earth should they speak at all?
