“…Dude, you say some pretty messed up stuff sometimes.” Shohei grimaced as though he’d never been more disgusted with me in his life. To be fair, that was probably a pretty tasteless joke on my part— though I didn’t like how he made it sound like this was a regular occurrence for me. Still, it was probably a good idea to change the subject. “Anyway, why are we comparing ourselves to Tokyo, again?” “Oh, ’cause that’s where Ms. H said the new kid was from.” Ah. Ms. Hamamoto was our homeroom teacher, a new instructor who’d just been hired by the school that year. Though for the record, she was not the sort of hot young female teacher that the average teenage boy might fantasize about. “Wow. Big city girl, huh?” “Yeah, she’s gotta be miserable here, man. Imagine moving out to the sticks after living in Tokyo all your life.” “No kidding.” I laughed it off as I took another look at her. “You think she’s going through culture shock or what?” “Hm? What do you mean?” “I dunno, it just seems like she’s isolating herself from the rest of us. Wonder what’s going on with her.” “Oh yeah?” Shohei perked up. “Lonely girl’s caught your eye, eh? Don’t blame you—she is pretty cute.” “Nah, not like that. Just curious what her deal is, that’s all.” “Well, her name’s Anzu Hanashiro, FYI. And lemme tell ya, she seems like a real character, my guy,” Shohei said, then proceeded to launch into a pretty amusing anecdote. Apparently, Ms. H had explained to the class that this new girl—Anzu Hanashiro—had moved to Kozaki due to family matters, though it was her first time ever transferring schools. But when the teacher asked her to say a few words to introduce herself to the class, the girl shot back with, and I quote: “No, I’m good, thanks. Can I sit now?” According to Shohei, Ms. H had been so rattled by this unexpected insubordination that she couldn’t even sputter out a response.