And so, I could not even begin to understand why it was that, just then, she came running up to me. DzŠ ‘†ǡwhyǫdz DzŠ›™Šƒ–ǫdz DzǥŠǡ‘–Š‹‰Ǥ™ƒ•Œ—•––Š‹‹‰ƒ„‘—–•‘‡–Š‹‰Ǥdz Without me ever determining the reason why, somehow, before I knew it, two months had passed since our first meeting. Already I had resigned myself to spending every Monday fourth period, and the late lunch after, with her. Due to my own shortcomings, I was unable to push away someone so clingy, and so I had kept up the pretense of her acquaintance. I started to pick up the fried whitefish that I always seemed to be ‡ƒ–‹‰ǡ„‡ˆ‘”‡’Žƒ…‹‰‹–„ƒ…†‘™‘›’Žƒ–‡ǤDz‘—‘™ǡdz•ƒ‹†ǡDz›‘— really need to stop attention-grabbing so much atte–‹‘†—”‹‰Ž‡…–—”‡•Ǥdz Dz†‘ǯ–‘™Š‘™ƒ›–‹‡•Šƒ˜‡–‘–‡ŽŽ›‘—ǡƒ„ƒ–ƒ-—ǡ„—–ǯ not attention-‰”ƒ„„‹‰ǨŒ—•–™ƒ––‘„‡…‡”–ƒ‹ƒ„‘—––Š‡ˆƒ…–•Ǥdz Dz‡ƒŠǡ„—–ƒŽŽ‹–†‘‡•‹•ƒ‡›‘—•–ƒ†‘—–Ǥdz I had come to realize that, surprisingly, there was no real harm in just keeping on as her conversation partner. Dz‡ŽŽǥ‡ƒǡ–Š‹‹–Š‡Ž’•–Š‡Ž‡••‘‹ˆ–Š‡’”‘ˆ‡••‘””‡ƒŽ‹œ‡•–Šƒ– –Š‡”‡ƒ”‡•–—†‡–•™‹–Š‘’‹‹‘•–Šƒ–†‹ˆˆ‡”ˆ”‘™Šƒ––Š‡›ǯ”‡–‡ƒ…Š‹‰‹ the lecture. During our lecture just befor‡ǡ™ƒ•–Š‹‹‰ǡǮ†‡ƒŽ‹•‹•ǯ––Š‡ •ƒ‡ƒ•ƒ‹†‡ƒŽǤǯ‹†‡ƒŽ‹••‘‡–Š‹‰–Šƒ–›‘—•Š‘—Ž†•–”‹˜‡ˆ‘”ǡ„—– ‹†‡ƒŽ‹••‡‡”•‹–Š‡ˆƒ…‡‘ˆ–Šƒ–Ǥ‡ƒ…‡…Ž‡ƒ”Ž›‹•ǯ–„—‹Ž–‘–Š‡„ƒ…‘ˆ ™ƒ”ǡ‹–ǯ•„—‹Ž–‘–Š‡„ƒ…‘ˆmore peaceǤ–Ž‡ƒ•–ǡ–Šƒ–ǯ•™Šƒ– –Š‹Ǥdz There was no real harm in it, but there was no mistaking that being deemed her friend was an incredibly vexing thing. Partly as a means of silently arguing against her, I once more picked up my fried fish. If I were to voice an opinion now or do anything that might imply I was invested in this conversation, she would just argue herself blue in the face until we were „‘–Š‹ƒ……‘”†Ǥ–™ƒ•ǯ–‘—–‘ˆƒ†‡•‹”‡–‘„‡ƒ–Š‡”‘’’‘‡–†‘™•‘—…Š as sincerely wishing to understand the thoughts of people with differing opinions from her own and amend her own opinion if necessary. I really hated that part of her. It was this vexing part of her that kept her so clearly ostracized from the people around her. Plenty of times when Akiyoshi was not around I had overheard disparaging whispers about her. Dz‹†‡ƒŽ‹••‘‡–Š‹‰–Šƒ–›‘—•Š‘—Ž†…Šƒ•‡—–‹Ž›‘—…ƒ•‡‹œ‡‹–Ǥdz