You and I need to have ourselves a little chat.

The blond boy sitting across the table from me seemed strung tight, like a spring compressed too far, and all of its energy converted to potential -- a tiger waiting to leap forth at me. His hands were firmly pressed into the table as though stabilizing himself, and his eyes blazed with a quiet rage that I didn't quite understand. His jaw was firmly set, the corners of his mouth set downwards into a stiff frown, and I could practically taste the hostility radiating off of him. I eyed the ticking time bomb before me, and then elected to vocalize the main thought that was crossing through my mind in that moment.

"Sorry, who are you?"

The boy seemed stunned by that response, as if he hadn't expected it. He lifted his hands off the table and crossed them over his chest as though protecting himself from some kind of assault -- an inherently defensive posture. Closed off, he leaned back in the chair, his eyebrows furrowed.

"You seriously have no clue who I am?"

"Nope. Enlighten me," I said, dismissively looking back down at my flash cards.

He sniffed disdainfully.

"I see, so even the great Uesugi Fuutarou has things he doesn't know."

I looked back up at him, my face completely blank. It was painfully obvious that the boy was (clumsily) trying to rile me up.

But... why?

"Never seen you before in my life. Am I supposed to know who you are?"

The boy quivered, the spring he resembled seeming to tighten even further. Then, he gritted his teeth, and almost hissed as he spoke.

"My name is Takeda Yuusuke. I'm the man who stands in second place in our year, and the one who will surpass you, my rival. I will show the world that I won't be a perpetual footnote to some commoner."

I looked at him blankly.

Commoner...?

Then, the tone and the words seemed to click into place in my head, and the penny dropped.

"Oh! You're Second Place-san."

I thought I saw a vein twitch in his face. It was an interesting effect, and I idly noted that I didn't think I'd ever seen that happen in a real person before.

"Excuse me...? What did you just call me?!"

I looked back down at my flashcards. "You know, the Kazoku was abolished in 1947. Japan doesn't have an aristocracy anymore. So you're just as much of a commoner as I am."

Then I looked back up at him.

"So, you know... unless you're over seventy years old, we have the exact same commoner status. With that in mind, that's a bit of an odd thing to call someone."

I paused, and then added,

"If you are over seventy years old, then first of all let me register my astonishment... and compliment you on how well you've aged."

"What? That's obviously not what I meant," scowled the blond boy. "I meant--"

"Oh, were you referring to the way some rich people are referred to as 'elites', or as the 'new aristocracy'? That's quite the silly basis to refer to someone else as a commoner. After all, those titles are just metaphors. They aren't meant to be taken literally."

"Listen here, you--"

I squinted at him.

"Yes?"

"You're not one of the elites who will rule this country. You're just some nobody with no money and no connections. That makes you a commoner."

I raised an eyebrow. "I see, so you do take the metaphor literally. That's a bit disappointing."

I saw the vein twitch on Second Place-san's head again, and he ground his teeth in anger. I wasn't quite sure why he was so furious.

I don't remember doing anything to him...

The boy across from me had an ugly look on his face. He leaned forward, and brought his face closer to mine, as though trying to intimidate me. It didn't work -- the effect was all too lacklustre, as though the boy was making some pale imitation of what he thought an intimidating affect ought to be.

"Listen here, Uesugi Fuutarou. You may have taken the top spot for now, but you're just keeping it warm for me. I don't know what manner of trickery you're using to keep that first place spot out of my rightful hands, but I won't allow a peasant like you to remain in your unearned position."

I raised an eyebrow, and said nothing. Second Place-san leaned back in his seat, gritting his teeth.

"Mark my words, on the next exam I will relegate you back to the nameless masses."

Around us, I could hear some whispering -- the other students were beginning to notice that there was a dispute going on.

"Sure, sure," I said, taking a sip of my miso soup. "I welcome the attempt. Those are certainly big words, though, from someone who hasn't yet beaten me once."

The boy shrugged, a dismissive grin on his face. It didn't suit him. "Hardly. I've been merely preoccupied with my other myriad extracurricular activities that are... expected of a man of my status. Perhaps a plebeian such as yourself doesn't know this, but there is more to being an elite than simply good grades."

Then he made a fist. "However, I have suffered this humiliation long enough. I will take back what is mine. I will reclaim the glory that I had lost, tarnishing my family name, through failing to capture first place for this long. Victory will be mine! A nobody like you can't stand in the way of my radiant destiny!"

I rolled my eyes. This fool is starting to annoy me.

"What are you, some kind of chuunibyou? This is the sort of monologue worthy of a middle school drama club."

"Excuse me?!"

I put down my flashcards, and gazed at the boy across from me. He was truly exactly as Itsuki and Yotsuba had described him: pompous, arrogant, and prone to cringe-worthy monologues. To my own surprise, my irritation with him was rising -- I wanted him to leave. I leaned forward until my face was only a few centimetres in front of his.

"Cut the shit," I hissed coldly from my new-found position. "Tell me what you actually came here for."

The boy recoiled from my sudden proximity, but then gathered himself and leaned forward again, not breaking eye contact once he re-established it. I could hear some whispers around us from the other students, but I ignored it, my eyes focused entirely on the cretin in front of me.

"Alright, I'll tell you what I want."

He took a deep breath as though steeling himself.

"I want you to stop tutoring Nakano Yotsuba."

"No," I said immediately. "Also, go to hell."

Then I paused a moment, processing what he'd actually said.

"Also, I'm not tutoring her."

The boy's look of fury was momentarily replaced by a look of pure bafflement.

"You're... not tutoring her?"

"No."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "She seemed pretty insistent that you were teaching her the content for the midterm. At great lengths, I might add."

"I am doing that."

"But you're not tutoring her."

"Correct."

The boy frowned. "Are you attempting to bamboozle me?"

"I am not."

"Well, I want you to stop your... whatever it is you're doing with her," he said, waving his hand dismissively.

"No. Go to hell."

"You know," he said drily, "I was under the impression you were intelligent, for all your flaws. It would seem I was mistaken. You don't know such a basic verb as 'to tutor'?"

I shook my head. "That's not what I meant. Regardless, I'm not going to stop teaching Yotsuba. You can give up on that demand as of right now -- feel free to go back to... whatever it is you do with them twice a week."

I pulled back to sit normally in my chair, and picked my flashcards back up from where I'd put them down. I began flipping through them, ignoring the still half-standing boy in front of me. Then, suddenly, a thought occurred to me, and I lowered the cards again.

"Hang on, why do you even care if I'm teaching Yotsuba? Much to my chagrin, she's continued to go to your bi-weekly tutoring session. How does it affect you at all?"

"Thanks to your... teaching, shall we call it," the boy sneered, "the girl feels a constant need to needle and prod and ask unnecessary questions. It's quite clearly an active piece of insubordination to distract and derail the sessions."

Wait, what? That makes no sense.

"That reminds me of my other complaint -- your influence is additionally making the others harder to educate as well. Nakano Itsuki has been more and more difficult to work with as the weeks go by, and don't even get me started on the other three ne'er-do-wells. I know that Nakano Nino's outburst was caused by you. I don't know what your goal is in making my life harder, but I would kindly ask you to cease and desist."

There was a moment of silence. I eyed the boy up and down in disbelief as he glared daggers at me.

He's delusional.

"Alternatively," I said, taking a sip of water, my annoyance replaced by a sudden wry sense of amusement, "my influence is minimal, and those girls are simply exercising their own free agency."

"Nonsense," the blond tutor said. "I can see your grimy fingerprints all over them."

Grimy...?

"Interesting theory," I said, shaking my head and calmly returning to my flash cards, a trace of a smile on my face. "So then, you think Nino got so angry at you because I told her to be angry? Do you think Itsuki is getting frustrated with you because of my influence? Do you also think the other two are avoiding your sessions because of me?"

"Yes! Obviously yes! I know you spoke to Nakano Nino before her outburst, she said as much! I've heard her bemoan how their tutor isn't the almighty first-place student! I'm not an idiot, Uesugi Fuutarou -- I have eyes and ears. I see your handiwork in all of this!"

I raised an eyebrow, flipping to the next flashcard. "Interesting, very interesting. In that same vein, you think I've been convincing Yotsuba to waste her own precious time before the midterms prodding you with, in your eyes, useless and insubordinate questions?"

"Yes, absolutely! I've seen her test scores -- there's no way a moron like her could come up with those sort of questions on her own, they're clearly plante--"

I quickly stood up, reached across the table, and seized the self-styled aristocrat by the front of his perfectly-maintained school uniform with both hands, the material creasing in my clenched fists. As I dropped them, my flashcards skittered across the table, the loop bouncing on the laminate surface and ringing loudly out as it did so. Pulling his vest with all my might, I yanked him forward until we were eye to eye. The look of sudden surprise and terror on his face elicited no new emotion in me at all -- because whatever feeling it may have evoked was so overwhelmingly dwarfed by the sudden anger that was already present as to be rendered irrelevant and undetectable.

"Don't call her a moron."

I pushed him roughly back into his chair, his tie ruffled and his vest suddenly off-kilter. The chair rattled against the floor as he heavily landed back in his seat, and the boy looked at me with widened eyes, and I looked back at him, bile rising in my throat. A small crowd had begun to form, and I could hear the murmurs around us rising, worried tones permeating the lot. I thought I heard a familiar voice among them. I didn't care.

"Here's a counterpoint to your genius theory, asshole." I hissed. "Perhaps I had a hand in all of this -- maybe I'm orchestrating some grand scheme to undercut you and ruin your employment in the Nakano household. Maybe I'm some villain whose goal is to keep you down in the dirt in all things while I take the glory for myself."

The blond boy was wordlessly staring at me, wide-eyed.

"Or perhaps -- just perhaps! -- there's another explanation. Another model that fits the data!" I said, venom dripping in my voice. "Perhaps your pedagogy is just absolute dog-shit! Perhaps Miku and Ichika don't join your sessions because you've made no effort to actually relate to them, and they don't trust you to teach them. Perhaps your failings are caused by you, and not by other people. Who knows? Obviously not me, I'm just a goddamn commoner. That was it, wasn't it? One of the huddling masses, unworthy of being in your exalted presence."

Silence.

Excellent. Shut the hell up and listen.

"Perhaps," I continued, "Nino refuses to join your lessons because you belittled her, mocked her for her failures in front of her sisters, and then started harassing her at school as well -- all to the point where she was forced into hiding in a classroom just to get away from you. Perhaps you made her feel small, and inferior, and like her worth as a person was contained in its entirety in a number on a page, a number which you wrote down. Nothing could be further from the truth -- I guarantee you, she possesses skills far outside the ones you were testing her for, skills which would render you speechless. Perhaps, if you ever stop treating her like garbage, she'll show you her talent."

I was silent for a moment, and then I smirked.

"At this point, though, probably not."

I sat back down, and leaned on the table with both arms, supporting my chin as I stared at the so-called tutor in front of me.

"As for Itsuki, this is just a thought -- but perhaps her impatience with you stems from your own inefficacy as a tutor. Perhaps it originates from your weavings and meanderings into the realms of irrelevancy and tangent, from you subjecting her relentlessly to the stream of consciousness that reportedly completely takes the place of real lesson-structures in your sessions. The monologues, the self-satisfaction, the arrogance, the condescension: those would without doubt cause her to be angry and frustrated -- ah, but what do I know? I've certainly never pissed off Nakano Itsuki."

I paused.

"Ah, that was a joke, by the way -- but I'm sure you've pissed her off far more than I ever have. You know, by being an arrogant prick."

Silence.

"Of course," I said, gesturing sardonically, "there's a very, very easy way for you to get Itsuki back on your side. Know what it is?"

The boy looked at me, stone-faced.

"What, the great Second Place-san doesn't know the trick? That's too bad. I'll tell you."

I leaned forward, not giving my interlocutor a chance to respond.

"Just stop sucking at your job," I whispered.

Then I leaned back, and spoke at a normal volume again. "Just be better! Wow, how simple. If I thought of it, I'm sure the genius Tutor-san could have thought of it himself. Alas, it appears that an over-inflated ego and a completely baseless sense of pride prevented him from realizing the obvious fact in front of him -- that he's just failing at his job, and he's grasping at straws, looking desperately for someone, anyone else to condemn for his own failures."

I paused.

"As for Yotsuba..."

I gripped the sides of the table, and I noticed for the first time that my hands were shaking. Distantly, in an almost detached manner, I noted that it was a bit peculiar that my body was reacting in that way. I straightened up, my hands still gripping the sides of the table tightly, my knuckles white.

"Get her name out of your goddamn mouth."

The whispers around us were fever-pitched, but it almost seemed like white noise, static on a receiver in the background that served only to obfuscate from the target of my entire focus -- the boy shrinking in the seat across from me.

"Yotsuba has poured her heart and soul into studying. She's toiled, laboured, sweat, and literally bled to prepare for this midterm. She's been putting in hours upon hours upon hours of work, studying and reviewing and preparing and testing -- and you dare belittle that? You dare deride the effort she's been putting in to reach this level, a level where she can ask those sorts of questions, as inconsequential, and just dismiss them out of hand as planted questions? That she isn't smart enough to come up with them herself? That she's so far below you that her being inquisitive, and curious, and persistent is inconceivable?"

I shook my head in disgust. "You don't deserve to teach someone like her. You don't deserve to call yourself her tutor. I can't believe this. I seriously can't believe this. I knew that you were self-centred, but I had no clue that her tutor was such a goddamn incurious, unimaginative swine. Her progress is beyond your conception of her, so therefore it must just secretly be me sabotaging you? It's impossible that she has a life outside of your one-sided perception of our supposed rivalry?"

My head was starting to hurt. I suddenly just wanted to be anywhere except here. The rage had slowly evaporated, and all that was left was a sense of revulsion.

"You're pathetic, Second Place-san. Frankly, with the level of intellectual inadequacy you've shown here, you're damn lucky to even be in second place. I think this conversation is over."

I picked up my tray of half-eaten food, and began to stand up.

"Wait."

I looked down at the boy, who still had a bit of a shell-shocked look on his face.

"If I beat you on the midterms..."

Please tell me he's not about to say what I think he's about to say.

I was suddenly distinctly aware of the small crowd that had gathered around us. There was nothing like a fight to grab the attention of bored high-schoolers, even if it had been (mostly) verbal. I glanced around at them, not really seeing them at all.

Philistines.

"If I beat you on the midterms, you have to stop tutoring her."

He said it.

I turned back to look at him, a look of pure disdain on my face.

"Let me get this straight."

He stared up at me, a strangely defiant look in his eyes.

"You want me to agree that if you beat me on the midterms..."

Nod.

"...something you have repeatedly failed to do over the course of four terms so far..."

Nod.

"...I'll leave Yotsuba entirely to you, and stop teaching her."

"Yes."

I put my tray down and put my head in my hands. My headache was getting stronger.

"Are you an idiot?"

For some reason, the boy seemed to have not expected that response.

"First of all, there's the practical matter that you're, at least in principle, tutoring five people in addition to studying for the midterm yourself, while I'm preparing study material for only one person besides myself. That alone gives you a massive handicap."

Silence.

"Besides that, however, you've never managed to beat me once. I've not slowed down the amount of studying I've been doing, because I study with Yotsuba. I'm not just answering questions the whole time, I'm doing my own studying too. So I don't even really have any kind of handicap."

Silence.

"However, there's one more, frankly far more important matter."

I leaned down until I was right in front of the so-called tutor.

"I'm not staking the education of a person I care about on a stupid bet with a piece of shit like you."

I picked up my food, grabbed my flashcards off the table where they were still laying, and pushed my way through the small crowd around us. The students parted in front of me. I looked around for somewhere else to eat, but no luck -- there were, unfortunately, no other tables available in the cafeteria. I glanced over at the table occupied by the quintuplets, and was somewhat relieved to see that they appeared to have not noticed the confrontation. There were only four of them there, however. Yotsuba was missing.

I could still hear voices behind me, and I thought I heard my name being said, but I just assumed it was the usual mocking that my schoolmates put me through, and so I simply ignored it.

Putting the girls out of my mind, I took my food out of the cafeteria, and made my way to the roof.

Or at least, I tried. But the door was locked.

Disappointed, I leaned my back against the wall of the narrow landing that led outside, and slowly slid down to the floor, my half-eaten lunch on a tray next to me. I leaned my head back until it gently impacted the cool surface behind me, and stared at the far side of the landing. It was a completely uninteresting beige colour.

Now that I wasn't yelling, I was cognizant of a loud pounding sound in my ears. It took me a moment of puzzlement before I could work out what it was.

Ah, I see. It's my heartbeat.

I quickly took my pulse, and wasn't remotely surprised to find that it was elevated. The pounding in my chest coupled with the throbbing in my temples and my shallow quick breaths, were all signs of a fight or flight reflex. Or, as it had been in my case, fight and then flight. I closed my eyes, and tried to breathe deeply, encouraging my heart rate to subside.

Eventually, it receded to a level only slightly above normal, and I allowed myself to open my eyes again and start eating the rest of my food. As I ate, the adrenaline left my system, and I felt suddenly exhausted. I briefly considered my options -- but there weren't any that would allow me to rest for any prolonged period of time, short of doing the unconscionable and skipping class.

At times like this, I really wish that was something I could allow myself to do. I'm exhausted.

I was about halfway done eating the remainder of my lunch when I felt a buzz in my pocket. I pulled out my phone to see that I had received three messages from Yotsuba. To my slight surprise, I realized that two of them had been sent about fifteen and ten minutes prior respectively. I must have missed the buzzing during my argument with Second Place-san, and my search for a refuge to eat.

<Uesugi-saaaaaaaan, let's have lunch!>

Ah. Whoops.

<Uesugi-san, I lost track of you when you left the table. Where did you go? Are you alright?>

...Wait, what?

I furrowed my brow. I wasn't sure I understood what she meant by losing track of me.

Does that mean she was in the cafeteria during the fight...? Did she hear what I said?

The last email was from mere moments ago.

<Uesugi-san, please respond... I'm worried...>

I felt a slight pang of guilt in my chest, and I quickly typed a respond.

<Sorry, I didn't feel my phone buzz for the first two messages. I'm in the stairwell up to the roof.>

I put my phone down, but it immediately buzzed.

<Coming.>

I stared down at the message, and for some reason, my chest felt like it was tightening a little bit. I checked my heart rate again, and sure enough it had spiked once more. The sensation was almost like I was feeling anxiety -- but that didn't make any sense. There was no particular reason to feel anxious about seeing Yotsuba.

"You're an idiot, Fuutarou," I mumbled to myself, putting a spoonful of soup in my mouth.

I was almost done my food when I heard footsteps crashing up the stairs, and suddenly Yotsuba was panting on the other side of the landing.

"Uesugi-san! I finally found you!"

I sighed. "I e-mailed you where I was. It's not like one of those scenes in media where someone is hiding in a corner next to a vending machine and their friends find them after searching the whole school for hours."

"Au contraire, Uesugi-san! I did search all over the school -- until I got your message, that is! I ran all over the place. Though, as it happens, I was about to search here next -- how convenient!"

The pang of guilt stabbed in my chest again.

"...Oh. Sorry..."

I took her in, and noticed that she was surprisingly drenched in sweat -- she must have seriously run all over the school looking for me. She was also panting, which added more evidence as to her physical exertion -- I knew her level of fitness wasn't something to take lightly. That she was in this state... the feeling of guilt in my chest was more than a stab this time.

Yotsuba walked over, and slid down on the wall next to me.

"It's fine! There are more important things than running. Jeez, I'm tired though."

She fanned herself dramatically, and her face was pink from exertion. Then she looked over at me, and for the first time I noticed the look in her eyes. It was an unusual mixture -- concern and worry, and also a little bit of fear, though I didn't think it was of me, per se. Maybe fear wasn't the right word. She seemed almost... apprehensive.

"Uesugi-san... are you alright?"

I looked up at the ceiling, avoiding her gaze. "It depends what you mean by 'alright'. Am I physically alright? I'm fine, although I'm suffering from a bit of adrenaline withdrawal, so I'm tired, and my head hurts. I could probably do with a nap. Am I emotionally alright? Well, that's a bit more complicated. On the whole, I'd say probably yes. Angry, mostly."

There was a moment of silence. I sighed, and put my food down.

"I don't like it," I said quietly. "Being angry, that is. I prefer to be in more control of my emotions."

Yotsuba nodded silently, and I stared up at the ceiling.

"I'm a bit embarrassed to be honest. Losing my temper like that in public is a bit much, even for me. I don't know why he was trying to provoke me, but I guess it ended up working after all. I just completely lost it."

"It's ok, Uesugi-san," Yotsuba said quietly. "Everyone gets angry sometimes. The important thing isn't to never get angry, it's to not hurt other people with your anger when it does happen."

"I suppose you're right," I sighed. "Though Second Place-san is, for all his flaws, a person. One who was probably hurt by my anger -- despite thoroughly deserving it."

"Mhmm."

"Maybe I should apologize to him."

Yotsuba didn't say anything.

"But I won't," I said, a wry smile on my face.

We both chuckled, and then sat there in companionable silence for a moment. I looked over at her, and mulled over my thoughts for a moment before speaking.

"...So."

"Hmm?"

"I have a question for you," I said, narrowing my eyes.

"Y-Yes?" she said, suddenly sounding nervous.

"Tell me up front -- how much did you hear?"

"Uh... Uh... No...thing?" she said, breaking out into a nervous sweat and hurriedly glancing from side to side.

I just raised an eyebrow.

"W-What are you doing that for, Uesugi-san?" she stammered nervously.

"Yotsuba, you're probably the single worst liar I've ever met in my life."

She hung her head. "Yeah, I know..."

"So? How much?"

"Um," she said, staring ahead, "I think I got there sometime around when you told him to cut the shit and tell you why he was there?"

I blanched. "Oh my god, you were there for practically the whole thing."

"I... guess that's true."

"Why didn't you say anything? I didn't even notice you were there."

"Well, at first I just felt bad interrupting your conversation, before it turned into... you know, that. Then, when it started getting a bit heated, there was a crowd forming and I was kind of being pushed to the back, but once he started yelling all that stuff at you, I wanted to say something -- but then you were both talking so quickly that I didn't feel like there was anywhere I could jump in! Then things just escalated, and you grabbed him, and I... I just couldn't move. I tried calling your name a couple times, but I don't think you heard me."

Yotsuba hung her head. "I'm sorry, Uesugi-san. I should have stepped in before it got to that point. Maybe I could have stopped it getting so heated."

I looked over at her with mild surprise. "You don't need to apologize, Yotsuba. You didn't do anything wrong. That jerk was picking a fight with me, not you. While I appreciate the sentiment, I don't need you to wage my wars for me. I'm perfectly capable of holding my own."

The ribboned girl half-heartedly laughed. "That's definitely true. I don't think I've ever seen you that angry."

I rubbed my forearm awkwardly. "I don't think I've been that angry in a long time. That was a lot worse than when I got pissed off at Itsuki a while ago. I just... he pressed a lot of the wrong buttons."

"I could see that. You really went off on him."

There was a moment of silence, and then suddenly Yotsuba snickered, a hand moving up in front of her mouth.

"I've gotta say though, 'waging your wars' is right! Man, you had some good lines, Uesugi-san!"

"Oh no. I don't like where this is going."

"Shi shi shi, 'get her name out of your goddamn mouth!', was it? Hehe, very gallant!"

I pulled my knees up to my chest and lowered my head to them.

"Ugh."

"'You don't deserve to call yourself her tutor.' Very well said, Uesugi-san!"

"Stooop."

Yotsuba's grin got even wider. "Ooh, what was the last one? 'I'm not staking the education of a person I care about on a stupid bet with a piece of shit like you,' right?"

I buried my face a bit deeper in my knees. "This is embarrassing."

Yotsuba's laughter echoed around the landing, and while my ears were burning red, inside of me the tight feeling in my chest seemed to relax. There was something reassuring about her gentle ribbing. I lifted my head, and shook it to clear the cobwebs.

"I just can't believe your tutor is such a jerk," I said. "I can't imagine what consecutive uninterrupted hours with him are like."

"Yeah... it's not great." Yotsuba said, and we both fell into silence for a moment.

Then, she lowered her shoulder, and gently bumped it into mine. Something about the gesture, and the soft contact, felt strangely intimate.

"Hey," she said quietly.

"Yeah?"

"...Thanks. For standing up for me, I mean. Especially when you didn't know I was there. It meant a lot to me."

I smiled. "Of course."

We made and held eye contact, and there was a strange feeling in my chest again... but it was different than the constriction that I had felt earlier. Her eyes were a beautiful blue colour, and I felt as though I were being lost in them. The feeling in my chest -- it was almost like an impulse, or an intrusive thought, like there was something in me that was urging me to--

Ding dong. Ding dong.

The bell interrupted my thoughts, and whatever impulse had come over me was swiftly vanquished, forced back into the iron cage in which I was usually able to keep my non-academic desires contained with a will of steel. It rattled the bars and demanded egress, but I prodded it away with a large stick.

In light of the sudden escape, for good measure, I mentally added another padlock.

What the hell was that?

"Ah, shoot, it's already time to head back to class," Yotsuba said, and got back up from the floor. She seemed unaffected.

"I need to go return the tray and the dishware," I said, joining her in being vertical. "I guess I'll see you after school at your place?"

"Yep, sounds good," Yotsuba said, trotting down the stairs. "See you tonight, Uesugi-san!"

Then, she was gone, and I was alone again in the landing at the top of the stairs. As I stood at the top of the step, waiting to put my foot down, there was a sudden moment of trepidation. Some small part of me, some weak part, wanted to stay. To not go back down into the world. To stay in this quiet sanctuary, where I hadn't just certainly made an enemy of my friends' tutor, and where I could just be alone with my thoughts.

Unfortunately, that wasn't something I could allow myself to do.

I took a step, and returned to the school below.