Her mother had always said this. That no matter how disgusted you might be with a friend, you should never speak ill of them. Kokoro thought she’d annoy her mother if she said anything.

‘Mum, I … I hate Sanada-san.’

Her mother’s eyes narrowed.

‘And we never argued.’

MR IDA DROPPED BY THE next morning.

It was a Tuesday and school was still in progress, but he apparently arrived between lessons. Kokoro’s mother had taken the day off work.

His hair was a little longer than the last time she’d seen him. He took off his well-worn sneakers at the door and turned to Kokoro. ‘Good morning, Kokoro. How are you?’

From the beginning, Mr Ida had called her simply Kokoro – with none of the usual suffixes. She’d only spent a month in his class, yet he used the same casual form of address as he did with anyone he liked. And it certainly had made her happy to be spoken to this way, since it made her ordinary, just like the others. But after this initial happy feeling, she got the sense that Mr Ida had intentionally used that form of address in order to make her feel relaxed.

It was his job. Showing concern was part of it. She knew it was immature and stupid to worry about something so petty, but she couldn’t help it.

He was, anyway, at the beck and call of Miori Sanada and her little gang. Even if she tried, Kokoro couldn’t forget a scene in the classroom back in April.

Mr Ida, do you have a girlfriend? one of the girls had asked him.

Even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you! he said.

But I want to know! What a liar you are, Ida-sen! she said, contracting the word sensei.

Wait, that’s not the way to speak to me, you know. He was laughing. You guys … he said. He wasn’t really angry with them.

He was completely Ida-sen to Miori and her little gang.

And these were Kokoro’s thoughts whenever he’d said to her, Don’t push yourself too hard.

Don’t push yourself too hard. But everyone will be glad if you come back to school.

He may have said it with kind intentions, but it seemed to her he didn’t really care one way or the other.

Why don’t you like going to school?

Did something happen?

When he’d first asked her, and she hadn’t responded, she got the sense he’d labelled her a slacker, and his impression hadn’t changed.

But she didn’t mind. What do you expect?

Teachers were invariably on the side of students like Miori Sanada, who stood out. The ones who spoke confidently in class, who played with their friends at break, the lively straightforward ones.